


Ani Before The Grumps

by themidgardiansongstress



Series: Strange Lovers [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies), True Blood
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-27 09:57:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 25,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14422947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themidgardiansongstress/pseuds/themidgardiansongstress
Summary: In which we learn who Ani was before she joined the grumps. Tells the story of Loki and Eric. Also, most of the Avengers are there. As are the residents of Bon Temps.





	1. Snowflakes and Baby Blankets

Anicalandra’s Journal, Just After Turning Suzy:

What could I possibly say about Loki’s role in my life? Our journeys proceeded unimpeded, in parallel lines. When we crossed, it always seemed as if it was by chance, but now…  
I feel him, somehow. He’s in pain now, and I try not to think about what that might mean…  
Arin and Dan have begun to ask me about him-Suzy is especially curious. I imagine that she might feel that connection as well. Progeny seeks progeny.  
I’ve been wrestling with how precisely to recount my story of Loki-of what I saw in that murderous god. There must be something wrong with me, to have fallen in love with someone like that, right?  
But what does it say that I am the one he should have fallen in love with?

  
The Beginning-Wisconsin, October 3, 1987  
The blanket of snow fell heavily over the hospital, hushing the world. Loki walked through it all with a kind of wonder. All this the result of his magic. Frigga had told him to focus, and his focus had wandered. Now a blizzard blanketed this small corner of Midgard.   
He waved a hand, the snow falling backwards up into the sky. Loki was about to leave before he was stopped by the sound of a baby fussing   
It instinctively pushed a button of his-something about hearing a baby cry out in a snowy landscape awakened something in him. He floated up to a window on the second floor of the hospital, lit from within. A red headed man was asleep in a chair next to a bed. The woman sleeping in it had a baby cooing on her chest, fussy and awoken by some primal need.  
A small hand grasped at the air, and the woman stirred. She sat up slightly, letting the baby play with her fingers for a moment. The baby wasn’t hungry, nor did she have to be changed. She was just energetic and wanted some attention.   
Loki lingered on the scene for longer than he should have-he had never seen a baby-there were no children on Asgard, at least, none that he had seen. He was the last son born to Frigga and Odin, so he had never had a baby sibling. And besides, everyone on Asgard lived too long to care for children.  
The baby stared past her mother at Loki, wide eyes blinking in fascination at the man. Loki waved, unsure about how to respond to this. The baby merely stuck her tongue out at him, staring at him curiously.   
Loki laughed, and the baby’s mother looked towards the window. Loki ducked out of the way, and then slowly peeked back into the window. The mother was standing at the window, looking down at him. Her baby was sound asleep in the crib next to her bed. She carefully unlatched the window, staring at Loki.  
“I…” Loki began.   
The woman shook her head. “It’s alright. You may not know why you’re here, but I do.”  
Loki squinted curiously at her. “What?”  
“My daughter…” She looked back at the baby. “She will need you again in the future.”  
“The future...you must be one of those magic mortals I hear so much about.”  
“I am. My daughter and I both have it.” She reached out and grabbed Loki’s sleeve. “Return to us in three years. We will have greater need of you then. And then...we’ll see.”  
Loki blinked in shock, stepping back as the woman closed the window. Who was this   
mortal? What could she possibly know about him? Regardless, he knew he had to return in three years, just to see what she was talking about.   
He floated back down, calling on Heimdall to bring him back to Asgard.  
\---

  
THREE YEARS LATER  
Loki stood before the house, staring agape. He had been summoned again, it seemed. He hadn’t thought of this family in so long, consumed with thoughts of his own family. But now, this one was in danger-why he was back here again, he did not know.  
A woman came out of the house, holding a small, crying three year old in her arms. She hurred to Loki, handing her the small baby. “Take her a moment, I must go back.”  
Loki took the baby in her arms. “Wait, aren’t you going to-” But she was gone, and now Loki was stuck holding a crying baby in his arms.  
He looked down at the baby, biting his lip before rocking the baby gently in his arms. “Shh, shh it’s okay…” He mumbled down at her. The baby quieted, holding onto Loki’s hand tightly.  
The mother emerged from the house, her clothes charred again. “It’s over...I’ve lost it all.”   
Loki bit his lip. “I’m…”  
The mother took her into her arms, sighing sadly. “We knew this would come to pass.” She looked at Loki. “Thank you, for coming back.”

She turned away from Loki, looking at her house. “This was meant to be. I...have to do this for my daughter now.”  
“Do what?”   
She turned to Loki, placing a hand on his forehead. Loki felt the magic filtering through his mind, and he gasped, falling to his knees.  
She pulled her hand away, and Loki felt the world fall away. He was back in Asgard, with no recollection of the last few hours.  
Ani’s mother sighed again, looking down at her daughter. “A god’s love is not a bad birthday gift my little one.”


	2. Storms in New Mexico

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ani and Loki truly meet for the first time, and things get saucy in New Mexico.

Ani, like most humans, aged. By 21, she had graduated from New Mexico State and had managed to get out on her own. She made a modest living giving tours and renting out camping groups in the New Mexico desert. It was enough to get by, and she had a comfortable life. Then she saw the bridge. 

Her mother had told her stories about them. Huge storms of light and wind that signalled the arrival of gods. She’d seen the security tapes from the hospital footage of the night Ani was born, how could Ani not believe?

Now, looking up into the night sky, Ani could see the signs. The swirling clouds, the thunder and lightning. She’d missed the last one-a astrophysicist by the name of Jane told her that there had been one just a few days ago. Ani had lived in the little town of Viking, New Mexico for years, and hadn’t heard of any bridges appearing nearby.

The night fell, and Ani saw the clouds above swirling faster and faster. She sped up the car, holding her camera in her other hand. Setting the car in auto, she managed to half hang out of the car, steering with her feet as she filmed the storm. She spoted a figure in the swirling light, and swore. She tried to swerve with her feet, and she was whipped violently around the car. She slammed herself back into the car, grabbing the wheel again. The light disappeared and Ani swore again. The car was swerving violently on the upturned sand, and she felt the car hit a nasty rock, making it flip and skid across the sand before coming to a harsh stop.

\---

Loki looked behind him, observing the car. It skidded and slid to a stop, but he had no time now to see what that was all about. He had a job to do here. He had someone to see.

\---

Ani coughed, shaking her head. Thankfully, the seatbelt had held her in place during the crash. She managed to wriggle out, holding her hands up to break her fall out of the upside down car. She crawled out, glass scraping her leather jacket. She sighed in displeasure, getting out of the car. She looked at the thoroughly damaged vehicle and exhaled heavily. “Well, that’s a lost cause if I’ve ever seen one.” She moved to walk away, her foot landing on an awkwardly placed rock.

Her ankle twisted, and she fell. “Fuck!” She exclaimed, grabbing her ankle. “Little son of a bitch.” She grabbed the rock and hurled it at her car. It hit a miraculously unbroken window and shattered it. “Yeah that’s right.” She huffed, bringing herself to her feet. She cried out in pain, gritting her teeth as her ankle swelled in pain.

She spied a collection of lights over the ridge on the horizon, and she started heading towards it.

\---

Loki left the temporary S.H.I.E.L.D. facility disappointed, and a little heartbroken.  Despite his Jotun heritage, he still felt like Thor was his brother. Loki sighed, looking at the horizon. Strange, the car that he had seen earlier was still there. Loki didn’t particularly feel like returning to Asgard any time soon, so he started heading out towards the crash. 

After a moment, he heard the sound of sand shifting as a hobbling figure started approaching him. He could have sworn her recognized the olive skin and the sweep of black hair, but he shook it off.

“Excuse me!” He called out. The figure stopped before him. “Are you hurt?”

The young woman huffed, gesturing to her uncomfortably swollen knee. “Well, yeah.” She sighed. “Do you have a car?”

Loki blinked, then realized what she had asked him. “Ah yes I do have a….motorized carriage.”

“Great. Cause I really need to get to a hospital. Where is it?” Ani asked. 

Loki gestured toward the nearby rocky outcropping. Ani began hobbling away, towards where he had pointed. Loki’s arm came up around her shoulder, helping her walk. Ani paused, regarding him curiously. “Thanks…”

\---

The car ride to town was quiet. Every so often, Loki would look over at Ani, checking in on her. “So, what are you doing in New Mexico?” Ani asked him.

Loki glanced at her. “I was...visiting family.”

Ani nodded, but shrugged it off.   
“And why, pray tell, were you driving so close to that storm earlier?” 

“I was filming it. I’m a...bit of a storm chaser.” 

Loki shook his head. “I will never understand mortals who chase death so.”

Ani quirked an eyebrow up. “A weird thing that to call people, but yeah.”

Loki cleared his throat. “So..did you happen to capture anything?”

“I did see something in the storm. I could have sworn there was a person standing in the middle of it, but that’s just...absurd.”

Loki stayed silent. “Of course.”

“So are you staying in town?” She asked.

“No. I just came in for the night. I’m leaving in the morning.”

She sighed. “That’s a shame.”

“Why is that?” 

She shrugged as they pulled up to the hospital. “I like the way you look in the moonlight.”

Loki blinked in surprise as she hopped out of the car. Her ankle gave out, and she fell to the ground. Loki bolted out of the car to help her stand.

\---

Loki and Ani sat in the waiting room, Ani holding her ankle up to keep bloodflow down. Loki came back with the forms she needed to fill out in order to be admitted.

He brought the forms back to Ani, sitting beside her as they waited. “Right, date of birth, October 3rd, 1987…” She hummed to herself, filling out the form.

Loki peeked over her shoulder as she filled out the form. “Anicalandra...that’s a lovely name.”

She glanced up at him. “Thanks. It’s a combo of two languages, Ani means beautiful in Hawaiian, Calandra is Greek for bird.”

Loki knew that, but he didn’t mention it. “A lovely name.” It was a small courtesy, but he knew most appreciated it.

Ani smiled slightly, and Loki found that the flourescent lights of the hospital did little to minimize her beauty. 

When she stood to give the nurse her forms, Loki stopped her. “Do not trouble yourself.” He took the form up to the desk again. 

\---

The doctor bandaged up her foot. “It was mostly a muscle tear, but you’re lucky. Most break their ankles on those rocks.”  
Ani nodded, looking over at Loki. “Yeah, I’m more lucky that this one found me out there.”

The doctor chuckled. “Fair enough.” Loki sighed. He would have been able to heal this injury for Ani in a second, but he decided that it wouldn’t be wise to reveal himself to Ani.

Loki cleared his throat. “So, has it been a slow night for you?”

The doctor sighed, standing up. “So far, yes. Although, we did have one weirder patient in here a few days ago.”

Loki perked up. “Is that so?”

“Yeah, big guy, blonde, freaked out when we tried to anesthetize him. We had to put him in straps, but he figured out how to get himself out of that, somehow…” The doctor left the room, leaving Ani and Loki in the examination room. 

Loki was stony faced as Ani stood, testing out her foot before walking forward. “Someone you knew?” She asked. 

Loki shrugged. “Let us leave. Do you need to eat?”

It was at that moment that Ani realized that she had not eaten for nigh on twelve hours. Her stomach grumbled in protest and she chuckled, reaching to take Loki’s hand. “Come on. There’s a diner in town.”

\---

Loki watched Ani as she ate, digging into her hamburger voraciously. He looked down at his as of yet untouched black coffee, feeling as though he should try to talk to her. 

“So.” She spoke between bites. “How did you wind up with the name Loki?”

Loki cleared his throat. “My, parents gave it to me.” He shrugged. “I have never questioned it.”

Ani chuckled, wiping her mouth. “So you were never the questioning, rebellious type?” 

Loki stifled a laugh. The number of times he’d done something to enrage his parents were all stories he could not tell. “Oh, I was, I just…”

“Managed to hide it?” She asked.

He shrugged again, sipping his coffee. “I suppose you could say that.”

Ani nodded, finishing her hamburger. She picked up a fry, munching on it as she thought. “And where did you grow up, exactly?”

Loki bit his lip. “Off continent. Europe.” He claimed. 

“Vague. Where in Europe?”

“England.”  
“What city? 

“London.” 

“Where did you go to school?”

“Oxford.”

“What powers do you have?”

“Teleportation is my main one.” Loki’s face paled as he realized what he had said.

Ani leaned back, a triumphant smile on her face. “So, Loki. Are you ready to tell me the truth?”

Loki stared intently at her, his powers probing into her mind. He tried to erase the memory of him from her mind-tried being the operative word. Ani blinked back at him, wondering why he was glaring at her now. 

‘He looks like he’s trying to shit.’ She thought to herself.

Loki struggled, but his powers could not touch her mind. He sat back, staring at her in confusion. “What are you?”

\---

Loki and Ani walked down main street. “So, you’re a mortal, with unexplained magic in your veins?”

“Yeah...and you’re a god, who came down to Midgard...to visit your brother and to grab his hammer.”

Loki nodded, and they came to the city limits. “I would be going soon.” 

Ani took his hand. “Stay, at east for another hour.”

“Why wou-” Loki started, cut off by Ani’s lips on his. She was soft, warm, everything he wasn’t. His arms wrapped around her, lifting her effortlessly her off of the ground. Ani pulled away, staring into Loki’s pale face, glowing slightly under the light of the full moon. “So, your trailer is…”

“Down the street, number 369.” She murmured, and Lokitelported them there.

They stumbled into her apartment, Loki pressing her up against the wall as he kissed her, her breath hot against his skin as she reacted to him. Then she spun, pinning him against the wall. She pulled away, grabbing his scarf, stepping back to pull him along. He fell on top of her, and Ani made quick work of his jacket, tossing it aside.

Loki did the same with her own leather jacket, tossing it away and latching his lips to her neck. She moaned in his ear, and Loki dipped his hips down to meet hers. He gripped her bedsheets so that he didn’t lay flush against her. 

Ani worked to unbutton his white button down shirt, Loki kissing his way down to her chest, his hands sliding under her black tank top. Loki pulled away, his hands pausing at the buttons on her pants. “Is this what you want?” He asked. 

She nodded, reaching up to grab him by the hair. “Hell yes.” She kissed him deeply, rolling them on to their sides.

\---

Ani sat up, watching Loki get dressed. “So if you can get dressed with magic, then why are you doing it the human way now?”

Loki sat down as he put his shoes back on, looking at Ani. “Just prolonging my stay.”

She grinned. “That’s very flattering.” She sat up. “So this whole ruling Asgard thing…”

Loki sighed. “Sadly, not something I can do remotely.” He kissed her forehead. “Though I would not object to visiting you again.” 

Ani blushed, looking at him. “Don’t be a stranger, alright?”

“Of course not.” He stood, moving to her door. “Take care, Anicalandra.”

Little did the hopeful mortal woman know that it would be years until she saw him again, and that by then, their lives would have diverged so severely.


	3. Brain Is A Bag Full Of Cats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some implied torture at the end of this one-In which Ani and Loki meet up again, and (like a dummy!) set up the end of Loki's innocence. But on the plus side, Ani is getting closer to her true destiny.

New Mexico held one too many memories, but that wasn’t why she was leaving the state. Like most in her family, Ani grew restless if it seemed as if whey was settling in any one small town.   
Viking, New Mexico was a real drag after Loki left. Ani placed a map of the United States over a dartboard, lining iit up to place New Mexico in the middle of the map. She closed her eyes, spun clockwise three times in place, and threw the dart at the map. It landed squarely on one city in Louisiana. She stepped up to the map, removing the dart. It had partiall punctured the name, but it was inmistakeable.   
“New Orleans…” She grinned.   
\---  
By sunrise, her belongings were loaded into her car. She’d sold the trailer last night to a fairly friendly looking family of four. She didn’t ask questions, but took their money gratefully. Then she loaded up the car, slid in, and started the engine. She sighed, pulling out of New Mexico. She wondered about Loki, whether he was doing okay now. To be sure, he had left only last night, but still. She certainly wasn’t leaving New Mexico on his account.   
\---  
Across the galaxy, Loki’s life was hanging by a thread. He held onto the golden staff, staring up into his adopted brother’s face. Thor’s golden locks whipped around his face, his mouth forming desparate words, begging Loki not to let go.   
But Loki didn’t hear it. The world had gone silent, and he weighed the merit of his life. When he concluded that his was not one existence worth celebrating, he let go, plummeting to the cosmos.  
\---  
He fell through the stars and galaxies completely unfocusd on the world around him. Which is why he didn’t notice when Ani’s astral form projected next to him, falling beside him.   
Loki turned, starting terribly when he saw her. “Anicalandra?”  
She turned to him calmly. “Well, this is a strange dream.”  
“Ani, this is no dream, what are you doing here?” He asked.   
She blinked. “What do you mean? Of course I’m dreaming.”  
Loki sighed, reaching out to take her hand. He held her close, pulling her body against his. She folded into him naturally, like a pearl sitting in a clamshell.   
“When do you think we’ll hit the ground?” She asked.  
“Soon.” He replied, closing his eyes. “How have you appeared here?”  
She didn’t answer, and they both hid the ground, Loki taking most of the impact. He exhaled sharply, his breath expelling harshly from his body. She rolled off of him, helping Loki sit up with an extended hand. Loki sat up, his body already glowing, healing himself. Ani stretched back, cracking her bones and joints as Loki fully stood.   
“Where are we?” She asked.   
“This is...not one of the nine realms.” Loki bent down, picking up some gravel in his hands. “Not Svartalfhiem...Why are we here?”  
She bit her lip, beginning to pace. “I’ve had dreams like this before, but only after meeting you have they been so intense.”  
Loki sighed. “You have magic. If it hasn’t already awakened, my presence near you has only hastened it’s arrival.”  
She sighed. “My mother has said something to that effect, yes.”  
“So then why hide it?” Loki asked.   
“She didn’t hide it, she just...never told me how to unlock it.”  
Loki approached her, placing his hands on the sides of her head. She blinked rapidly up at him, and felt a warmth spreading through her chest, like a million fireflies and stars thrumming against her ribcage. Loki felt it-her magic coursing through her like her own blood. It was strong, stronger and stranger than even his own magic. Then he saw it-the curse upon her body, upon her family. He saw the price she wold have to pay to obtain her magic, and pulled away.   
She stared at him, eyes wide. “Loki?”  
“Three. Three times.”  
She blinked at him. “Ah. So you saw it. I thought I could feel you poking around in my head.”  
She turned from him. “My mother once told me that my family was built for suffering. She said that...she thought she had met her end three times. And on the third time, she came into her own.”  
“So the first time…”  
“My father’s death.” She turned back to him. “And I expect you’ll be my second?”  
He didn’t answer her, instead moving to wrap his arms around her. “You’re the only person I don’t want to lie to.”  
\---  
They walked for what seemed like hours, Loki and Ani determined to discover where they were. Every now and then, Ani swore she saw something moving behind a rock, but that fear was largely unfounded when they investigated it.   
That was when they found it-the clearing. It was a roughly circular stone clearing, with steps leading up to a throne that now lay empty. Now the creatures that had been following them emerged from behind them, circling them. They were large, ungly creatures, with tentacles and other appendages hanging off of them.   
Loki and Ani stood back to back, Ani picking up a rock. Loki’s magic flared up around his hands, glowing in green strands and sparks. “Ani. You need to leave this place, I can fend for myself.”   
“Like hell I will! If I wasn’t leaving before, I won’t now.” She gritted her teeth, stepping forward. She threw a rock at a nearby alien, the creature growling in anger.  
Suddenly, long, whiplike chords of light came out of the ground, lifting to wrap around Ani’s form. She screamed, struggling against the cords. They wrapped tighter, wrestling her to the ground. “Ani!” Loki exclaimed. He tried to cut the cords with his dagger, but the ropes dug into his skin, burning ans slicing down to the bone. He swore loudly, snapping his hands away.  
“My my my…” A large figure stepped from behind the throne. “What have I stumbled upon here?”  
Loki looked up at the figure, Ani catching her breath before looking up at the figure. “Fuck off.” She breathed. The frowned, snapping his fingers. Ani writhed in pain as fire laced through her from the ropes, attacking her nervous system.   
Loki bent down again. “Your companion has a vile tongue. Tell them to behave themselves, or they risk losing it.” The figure commanded.  
Loki glared at the figure but nodded, rubbing Ani’s shoulder. “Come on darling, let me help you sit up…”  
She sat up, staring at the figure. He lifted his hands, and Ani’s bound figure floated off the ground like a puppet. “Two magic beings...one stronger than the other, and yet…” He turned Ani in the air, gripping her chin in a large purple hand. “Far less experienced.”  
Ani glared daggers at the figure, and reeled back, spitting in his eye. A dirty trick, but she didn’t care.   
Thanos glared at her, and slapped her hard. Loki screamed when he heard a bone in her face crack. Thanos chuckled, moving his hand over her face to heal it again. “Oh alright. Who would want to hurt a face as lovely as this one?”  
“Apparently you.” She muttered.   
“What was that?” He asked her.   
“Nothing...Look, we won’t bother you too much. We just want to go home. Preferably mine.”  
Thanos laughed heartily at that. The last few moments were so confusing for Loki, he could do little but stare up at Thanos. “I cannot send you two home. You two are going to help me with a few plans I have…”  
He turned, grabbing a dagger off of a nearby alien. Two of these aliens grabbed Loki, holding him between them. He could watch, but he could not act.  
And so Loki stood helpless as Thanos plunged the knife into the arm of the woman he loved, her screams singing his mind like a comet.


	4. You Ruined EVERYTHING

Ani fell to her knees, panting heavily. There were four small knives in her arms, Thanos circling her menacingly.   
Loki was now crying freely, watching her. “Stop, I …” He began again.  
“Yes?” Thanos asked, trailing another knife through the air as hepulled Ani to her feet.  
“Loki, you great fool.” She breathed. “Don’t do this.”  
“I know not what you plan to do with us, or what your plans are, but…I have tostop this…” Loki pleaded.  
“You have heart.” Thanos chuckled. “And a foolish one.”  
The knife disappeared, leaving several gaping holes in Ani’s arms. They bled freely until Loki stepped forward to wrap his arms around her. He helped her stand. “What have you done, Loki?”  
“I’m saving you, Ani.” He sighed, moving to tend to her wounds.   
“At what cost?” She asked.  
“If you two are done, we have some business to attend to.”  
\---  
“If we are to strike a deal, you have to let us know what it is that you precisely want us to do for you.” Ani sighed, rubbing her sore knife wounds.  
“It’s quite simple, really. I believe that your father has something that I want.” He nodded to Loki.   
Loki scoffed. “He’s not my-”  
“SILENCE!” Thanos ordered, slamming his fist down on the armrest of his throne. They both said nothing. “Anyways…” He cracked his neck. “There’s a weapon that I require, but it’s missing parts…”  
Loki’s eyes lit up in recognition. He said nothing, but silently moved to take Ani’s hand. She squeezed it.   
“I’m sure you’ve seen one, or two, maybe even heard of them.” Thanos hummed, staring at Loki. “The aether, the tesseract?”  
Loki stood now, fists clenched. “No. What do you plan to do with those stones once you have them?”  
“That is not your concern! What matters now is that you aid me in finding them. There is one, in your home planet.” He nodded to Ani.  
“If you think for a fucking second that I’m-”  
The knife flashed out, landing squarely in Loki’s shoulder. Thanos sat back, watching the trickster god scream, falling to his knees.   
Ani moved forward, but paused. Her hands were fading. She looked down at herself, and swore loudly. “Loki!” She screamed again.   
As her projection faded, Ani could only stare on in horror as Thanos approached Loki with a strange, curved scepter. It glowed blue, and Thanos pierced Loki’s chest with it. The light filtered through his skin, moving up his veins and into his head. His eyes glowed blue, the last light that Ani saw as the projection around her faded.  
\---  
“It’s not much, but I like to think that it’s cozy rather than crowded.” Michael continued, leading Ani into the common room again.   
Ani looked around the apartment again. She didn’t care for the smell-water damage always left unpleasant odors. But, for the price she was paying for it, it wasn’t too bad. “I like it. It’s like a hidey-hole.” She turned to him again. The blonde, blue eyed landlord was cute, in a babyish type of way. Ani hadn’t dream of Loki for several nights now. She had called ahead already looking for apartments, and the easiest landlord to deal with by far had been Michael.   
“I’m glad you think so.” He sighed earnestly. He was almost unbearably sweet, like a Palmer chocolate. Ani said nothing, but regarded him quietly.  
“How much did you say this would be every month?”  
“600 plus utilities. Technically, this building is haunted, and theirs some water damage in the living room, so I was able to shave off a few hundred dollars on it.”  
Ani looked at him in suspicion. “That’s almost too good to be true.”  
Micheal shrugged. “Dunno what to tell ya. I can work real estate magic.” He shrugged.   
Two shrugs in one minute. Ani was already more suspicious of him. “Look, before I sign off on this, I want to make sure that I can trust you.”  
She could not. She could in fact, not trust him.  
\---  
Loki looked down at the scrying bowl, watching as Ani grew closer with the blonde haired Michael. “You see?” Thanos continued, holding Loki’s head over the scrying pool.   
Loki could no longer cry. The tears had been rung from him by the torture he’d felt at the hands of Thanos. Watching Ani being happy with another man was not a torture for him. He only wished for her safety. “I do not know what it is that you wish to do with this information. You know it no longer hurts me.”  
Thanos growled in anger, pulling Loki to stand. “He’s ready.” He muttered to his hooded servant. “Give him the scepter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the lateness of this chapter, I realize that it took me quite a while to get through this chapter. The Avengers is such a thorny period Loki and Ani


	5. Who Was That Mysterious Ghostly Girl?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now we're cooking with gas! We finally start exploring Ani's role in the events of the Avengers (2012)

Loki stared down at the ground, kneeling with the scepter in hand. Blue light filtered around him, and even though he was slightly repulsed by what he had to do now, the blue light in his head, the power of the scepter filtering through him only made it easier.

Once, twice, thrice the scepter fired, causing havoc on the facility around him. He fought viciously, as only a wounded and enraged animal could; daggers flew and scepter stabbed to kill. In the pause, for the briefest moment, Loki could have sworn that he saw Ani in his view, as he stared at the one man still moving. Loki whipped around to look for her, hoping beyond hope that she was there somehow, that she could make this madness cease. 

It was a moment of weakness, and he had only seconds to react when the last mortal standing stood. With long, purposeful strides, Loki approached him, easily blocking his feeble attack. Again, Ani’s face flashed over the man’s face, and Loki paused, staring at the mortal warrior.

  
“You have heart.” He sneered lasciviously, thinking all the time of Ani. The scepter stabbing into the mortal’s heart was a thrill in Loki-like the first spell he’d cast, like his first time throwing a dagger, like his and Ani’s first kiss.  
It was intoxicating to see, and it was no less thrilling to watch as mortal after mortal fell to his control. 

“Loki.” A soft, yet commanding voice echoed in the silence behind him. Nick Fury and Loki paused in their respective actions, watching the ghostly figure of Ani staring at Loki in shock. Nick looked up at the cameras on the whole, hoping to all hell that this was being documented “So. This is what you have been reduced to?”

“I have a purpose. For once, a true, more glorious purpose than the one my ‘father’,” He practically spat the word out. “Had planned for me.” He replied, the blue lightning from his entrance swirling dangerously above them all. 

Ani laughed. Once at first, a short, mocking chuckle. Then more, and more, laughing delirously as she considered him. “You’re a damn fool, Loki. You think that doing this, enslaving a few humans is a glory?”

“Not just a few, my dear, but all seven billion of your flock.” Loki continued. Hawkeye glanced up at the dangerous energy. 

“She’s stalling you-we need to go.” Hawkeye replied, aiming his gun at the young woman.

Loki slapped him hard. The mortal hardly reacted, but lowered his gun, a small trickle of blood coming from the corner of his mouth. “Don’t you dare touch her.” He growled, striding to leave the facility. 

Hawkeye instead aimed his gun at Nick Fury, his former superior. The force of the shot knocked Fury off his feet, and Loki’s entourage strode past, grabbing the vital briefcase from the ground. 

Ani’s ghostly form approached Nick Fury and placed her hands upon his chest, teleporting them out of the collapsing facility just as a wave of energy blasted the cave to collapse. 

Nick Fury scrambled to his feet, running to the helicopter before pausing. “Wait!” He shouted to the form of the young woman “Come with us!”

“I can’t!” She shouted back.

“It’s not safe here!” Nick argued. A soldier, retreating from the collapsing facility walked through Ani’s astral form, and Nick could only stare. “Who are you?” He asked as her form began flickering in and out.

“My name is Anicalandra!” She shouted before fading away entirely.

Nick climbed into the helicopter with Agent hill, the wind whipping his coat and her hair around. “What happened in there, Sir?” She shouted. 

“Too much weird shit!” He replied. “I need you to look up a name for me!”  
\---  
Back in New Orleans, Ani woke with a start, blinking up at the hospital ceiling. “Oh thank god.”

Ani turned to see her landlord, Micheal sitting next to the hospital bed. “Micheal?” She asked, bewildered.

“You’ve been in a coma for two days!” He sputtered frantically.

She blinked, moving to sit up. Micheal approached, shushing her and moving to push her back to lay down. “No, no, lay down, rest.”

She shoved him away. “Get off me! God, I’m not a porcelain doll.” She was thoroughly annoyed. She hated being shushed, and she hated being pushed around. 

Micheal looked hurt, and dangerously angry for a moment before his face flickered to lovesick puppy sadness. He sniffed, his lower lip trembling, his baby blue eyes filling with tears. Ani winced; here was a dangerous man for sure, and she cursed everything in her that seemed to attract men to her. She often felt like a raw steak thrown to starving dobermans, and it was never a pleasant feeling.

What had she walked into with this young man?


	6. Can't You See That Our Relationship Is (Un)Stable?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Loki is once again an idiot, and Ani is one of the strongest people in the room. Also, some of the main Avengers cast finally makes an appearance.

Ani walked on eggshells around Micheal for the next few days. She felt her connection to Loki always, tethering him to her like a balloon. Micheal, for his part, was of the jealous, possessive variety. But dangerously so. On more than one occasion, Ani had walked in on him paused while cooking dinner, staring at the knife in his hand with a look she couldn’t place. Then he would come back to himself, noticing her stare on him.

Her dreams of Loki subsided-they faded into the background. As she went about her day, cooking, cleaning and writing songs, going to work, she found herself wondering what Loki was doing. He was holding back, biding his time, planning. She sighed in relief, hoping she wouldn’t have to see Loki harming another human being, she would never have a dream as terrifying as the last one. 

She had one again that night.  
\---  
Tony Stark looked down at the files as Pepper handed them to him. He flipped through it, throwing the files out onto the hologram screens around him. 

“It’s a miracle that Fury was able to get out of the facility to begin with.” Coulson continued. Tony pulled up a few images of a young woman hidden in the file, attached to the file on Loki. 

“I’m guessing she’s to blame?” He asked Coulson, pointing to the fuzzy image of the woman.   
Coulson nodded, walking up to the file. “We have her name. Anicalandra Demitricolus. Born on October 3, 1987. She lives in New Orleans, and we have no idea if-”

“Hey.” Pepper lightly smacked Tony on the arm. “That’s her, isn’t it?” She pointed to the shimmering form appearing near the window. Her back was turned to them, black hair blowing gently in the breeze. Tony’s eyes widened. 

\---

Ani stared over the New York skyline, the lights glowing gently, yet all too much at once. She felt several sets of eyes watching her, and she pushed aside her confusion. Ani turned, blinking at the three people assembled. “Hi, uh...is Loki here?”

“Why would you think Loki was here?” Coulson asked her suspiciously.

She turned to the skyline again, placing her hand on the window. Her nearly ethereal form phased into the window slightly, giving some push, as if she was just barely formed. “Whenever I sleep, something happens to my body and soul.” She paused, walking to the hologram files on her and Loki. “My body disappears, but somehow I...appear here, or wherever Loki is supposed to be.”

Coulson approached her cautiously. “You mean this happened before the incident at the facility?” He had no idea what to expect from a being like her, but he was determined to bring something back to base, anything that could help stop Loki.

Ani mumbled. “He was falling through space. When we landed we were...somewhere he didn’t recognize.” She sighed, pulling up a video from her section of Loki’s profile. “We wandered for a while, and them something found us...these aliens that neither of us had ever seen. They had a leader.” She turned to Coulson. “I didn’t see their face; they were wearing a hood. But their body ain’t right. But he wasn’t working alone.” She played the selected video, a fuzzy image of the hospital she was born in appearing before them.   
The peaceful snowy scene was interrupted by a burst of rainbow light, the nordic symbol left on the ground when it disappeared. And the faint form of Loki.

“The first encounter.” Coulson mentioned offhandedly. “Who else was the hooded alien working for?”

Ani flipped to the New Mexico segment of the file and laughed to herself. “I was less than a mile away from your base. And Loki snuck in right under your noses.”

“Would love to have him on security detail.” Tony murmured, Pepper nodding in agreement.

“That’s why we’re looking for him.” Coulson added obviously. “So who else was there with you and Loki on that planet, Ani?”

She closed her eyes, shaking her head. “It was this...ugly thing. Purple skin, and it looked like someone had sliced his chin, but didn’t quite finish the job. I never learned his name.”

Coulson frowned, but made a note to mention to Fury that they had more than just one threat to deal with. “Do you know what Loki’s planning? Is he working with the other two beings you mentioned?” He paused when Ani didn’t seem willing to give in answer. In truth, she didn’t know, but she didn’t want to mention it to Coulson, to give him any false hope. Coulson decided to appeal to something more rudimentary. “You know more about Loki than any of us.”

“I try. It doesn’t amount to much.”

“Do you know what he’s planning?”

“With the Tesseract or the Aether?” She asked.

Coulson blinked in confusion, taken aback by how much she did know. “How did you-”

“I was there when the deal was made. Or, at least when it was proposed.” She bit her lip. “What Loki did to your staff, the doctors, that soldier...the aliens did that to him first.”

Coulson’s eyes widened. “Is Loki being controlled?”

She laughed softly. “Nah. It’s hard to to fully take on the mind of a god. The staff has different effects, it looks like. With your staff, it bent them to Loki’s will, made them loyal to him. But with Loki...it made the storm in his head stronger.”

Coulson frantically checked his notes to make sure the transcription software was still recording what she was saying. 

“He’s thinking for himself.” Ani continued. “But his fears, his desires, his mischievousness...they’ve been blown way out of proportion. But he’s making his own decisions. Still, right now, I wouldn’t trust him to pick a place to eat.”

“You he trusts, I’m sure.” Tony pointed to the video she’d landed on; the clip of Loki slapping Hawkeye after he’d aimed a gun at Ani. “Cares about you. Must be…”

“Overwhelming is a good word for it. Though I don’t think that he’s doing this for my sake.”

“What are you thinking?” Ani asked the shorter scientist.

“Do you think you could figure out his plans, get him to divulge them to you?” Coulson asked, any trace of humor gone from his face.

“I’ll make the attempt. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to appear to him when he’s in the right mood to tell me that.” She looked at the video from the SHIELD facility again, watching Loki’s haggard face, eyes wide in madness and fire. “I want to stop him. Make im see reason. Make him…” ‘The man I fell in love with’ Ani thought to herself.

Her form began to fade again, and soon, Ani was gone from Stark Tower, just as quickly as she’d arrived.

\---

Now, she did feel him.

Ani looked around the new place she’d apparated to-a busy temporary camp, with staff and soldiers walking about, blue eyes slightly glowing as they did so. None paid her much attention. She spied Loki’s form across the room, his body reappearing in a shimmer of gold glitter, blindingly bright magic. His magnificent curved horns faded, his clothes changing as well. 

Ani stepped forward, and one of the soldiers half bumped into her, but also phased into her. The unnamed soldier stumbled back, the blue light gone from his eyes. He stared around himself, terror building in him as the influence from Loki’s staff disappeared from his mind. “Holy fu-” 

Loki seemed to glide over to the soldier in two strides, moving like a ghost, a wolf. The staff pierced the soldier’s chest again, and the blue light spread from his chest to his neck to his eyes. The re-entranced soldier took a sharp turn, and walked away from Loki.

The trickster god stared at Ani gears turning in his mind with dizzying speed. He turned the staff in his hands, nothing the way Ani recoiled from it.

“Well, you’ve looked worse.” She looked up at him. He had less bags under his eyes, but he was still pale. At least he didn’t look like he was taking meth.

And yet, Ani could detect the faint smell of space on him; where had he gone?

And then there was the hungry blue light in his eyes…

“You’re here.” He murmured plainly. 

She nodded, looking around again at the soldiers, the activity around them. “What’s your plan, my dear?” She looked up at him. “There are a lot of people looking for you now. Maybe, your flair for the dramatic could have served you elsewhere.” She pointed at his forehead, and has her finger got closer to him, Loki felt the strange ebb of clarity approach his mind, like she was a fan blowing away a noxious fume. “There’s a laser sight on your head, darling.”

He frowned. Was that a threat? “Walk with me.” 

The two walked to the edge of the compound, Ani gliding beside Loki to keep up with his stride. “We head for Germany. That cursed stone is unstable, volatile. We need a component, a substance to stabilize it.” 

“It’s not the only thing.” She replied. Loki gave pause at that. They had reached the edge of the camp. “Why fight SHIELD? They can offer you way more reliable resources than you, and you can fight back against that purple asshole and his creepy lackey.” She reasoned.

“You have no idea-

“Don’t you dare.” She stood before him, pointing an accusing finger at him. “Don’t you dare act like you’re the only person that carries that pain. Like you’re the only person who’s confused and hurting, and recovering from that torture.”

There it was again. Her finger pointed at him, and Loki felt relief teasing him. ‘Lean in, you fool, and be free of their influence.’ He told himself. 

He knew that there were few beings alive that could humble him so, could remind him that he was not an island. Frigga, Anicalandra. At times, Thor. “Who do you think I’m doing this for?” He asked, moving to reach out to her. 

He leaned into her ear, whispering. A wash of calm came over him, and he knew what to tell her now. “New York, my love. New York is where my reign begins.” Parts of Ani began to fade away again, as if holes were being punched through her form. Loki desperately tried to grab a hold of her as she began to disappear. 

But in the end, he was only a god drowning on dry land. 

\---

With a sharp gasp, Ani popped into existence in Stark Tower again. She fell to her knees, clutching her chest. 

Coulson rushed to her. “What is it? What did you see?”

“Germany.” She heaved. “He needs something to stabilize the tesseract, a compound in Germany.”

Coulson pulled out a slim earpiece, switching it on to report it in.

She grabbed Coulson’s wrists. “New York. That’s where Loki takes over the world, that’s where this can all be stopped.” Her voice got steely as her body began fading again. “You need to get everyone the fuck out of New York.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this took forever, and I will try for weekly updates again. You try applying for a PhD and working full time sometime! Really brings my output down.


	7. 99 Grune Luftballons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Loki is upstaged at his own show, and we find out who's really worthy of wielding Mjolnir

Ani started to miss her time dealing with Loki and his shenanigans with SHIELD. Living with Michael had quickly become one of those horror movies from the 80s, where a stalker would be lurking around the corner, but you wouldn’t notice until you scanned the whole room to check. 

He had gotten increasingly jumpy since Ani had disappeared, or at least, started disappearing. He liked to hang out on the edges of rooms, just lurking and waiting for her to appear before skirting out of view. A few times, Ani could have sworn that she heard him murmuring about her when she was supposed to be out of earshot. She could only ever catch snatches of it, but she herself was starting to get suspicious. 

The time bled into itself, and Ani could scarcely remember what she had been doing in the time between when she appeared to Loki. Not that he figured so largely in her life, but still.   
\---  
Ani finished fastening the last bolt onto her lock, and tested it. It would no longer open from the outside, so she could disappear for as long as she had to. She slid under the covers, and closed her eyes. She focused, focused, focused, and soon felt her body fading as she traveled far away from New Orleans.

When she opened her eyes, she was facing an old German man standing in a crowd of frightened, kneeling people. “There are no men like you.” She heard him say, and she had a sinking feeling of who he was speaking to. 

She fully materialized and turned to stare at Loki in horror as he raised his staff, aiming it at the old man, and Unfortunately, at her as well. 

“Stand down, Ani.” He murmured, staff glowing menacingly.

She looked around herself at the confused and frightened faces, at the people kneeling and shaking in fear. 

“Holy Shit, Loki. What have you done?”  
\---  
Above the clouds, in the Quinjet, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff watched the whole exchange unfold. 

“That’s her?” Steve pointed to the screen.

“From what Fury says, she’s one of the few people Loki trusts. One of the few people that gets under his skin.” Natasha said.

Cap frowned. Someone who played for both sides could hardly be expected to be loyal to either one. “We sure we can trust her?”

“Fury seems to think so.” Natasha sighed.

Cap huffed, and watched in shock as Loki lowered his staff before lifting it again and firing at the woman he was supposed to trust.  
\---

“You think ruling the Earth like this will make you happy? You think this is the kind of life I want? People throwing themselves to the ground because they’re terrified of me?” She accused.

Loki licked his lips, doubt clouding his eyes for only a second. He looked around, murmurs of dissent and laces of rebellion rising from the crowd around him.

The old man behind Ani moved to shuffle away. “Look to these rebels.” Loki slipped back into the bravado of a king, speaking out over the crowd. “Watch what happens to the willful.”

Loki fired the staff at the old man, and Ani stepped into the way to stop the blast.

Ani’s body felt warm, all too warm, hot even, but freezing all at once. The power from the blast coursed through Ani’s ethereal form, making her more solid, more present. She felt it in her-the power, battling with her inborn magic, fighting to get out of her. Ani arched her back, a short cry bursting from her longs as she redirected the blast at Loki, knocking him onto the flat of his back. 

Chaos again erupted around Ani as people scrambled to run away, exclaiming in German panic. Ani nearly fell to her knees, but she was determined not to show weakness before Loki again. 

A man dressed in red white and blue shot down from the sky, standing between Loki and Ani. “Thank you ma’am. I’ll take it from here.” Steve Rogers nodded to Ani as Loki stood. The Trickster God aimed his staff at Steve Rogers, firing again. 

As they fought, with staff blasting and shield flashing, Ani was reminded of a wounded animal. Loki’s pride had taken a bruising, and he seemed desperate, overreaching and swinging his staff in a painful looking arch. Loki had clearly been shaken by Ani’s resistance to the staff.

“Dammit Loki, stand down!” She yelled at him. “Stop drawing this out!”

The Quinjet lowered into view, but Natasha didn’t have a moment to speak before Loki fired the staff at it. Captain America took the chance to punch Loki again, his uneven stance forcing the god onto his back again. The staff flew out of his hand, Ani dived for it, bending down to pick up the staff.

The power thrummed through her again, like holding onto the frayed end of a wire. She aimed the business end of the staff down at Loki. Her form solidified further, becoming practically solid as if she had fully teleported to Germany.

Loki and Cap stared at her. “Stand. Down.” She ordered, the staff glimmering dangerously in her hands. 

Loki moved to sit up, and Ani pressed forward, the staff inches from his face. He held his hands up in surrender, his ostentatious kingly armor and helmet fading away to his daily armor.

Ani lowered the staff, breathing heavily. She looked up as Tony Stark flew down, blaring AC/DC following him. His face plates moved away from his face, and he glanced to Ani, nodding at her. “Nice work. Looks like you took care of this handily.” 

Steve Rogers didn’t take too kindly to that comment, but Ani was busy dry heaving into some nearby bushes.  
\---  
Ani sat in the Quinjet, staring at her hands. Her form was solid-she didn’t phase through any of the material around her, but she still seemed hazy, like a close up of an old female movie star. She was...almost glowing.

Loki stared at her, the hungry, stunned look in his eyes drinking in the image of Ani before him, creating a very...charged atmosphere in the Quinjet. Steve Rogers watched them cautiously. Aside from their energy being distinctly intimate for his taste, he still didn’t trust Ani. 

Ani looked up, hoping to evade Loki’s intense stare for a moment. “So we’re heading to your base?” She asked. 

“From what I’ve heard, yes.” Tony replied before Steve could stop him. Steve placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder, turning to have a semi-private conversation with the Iron Man. 

“What?” Tony asked. 

“How do you know you can trust this young lady? With the powers she has? With the influence she has on Loki?” Steve asked. 

“That’s the thing, Capsicle.” Tony admitted. “We don’t know all the powers she has. Don’t worry though-she’s obviously on our side.”

“I can’t see how-” Steve began, startled by Ani’s sudden appearance beside him. 

“You guys know that I can hear you, right?” Ani asked. 

Steve cleared his throat. “I’m sorry-”

Ani held a hand up to silence Steve. “I get that you can’t trust me, but you have to have read the file on me.”

“Of course.” Steve was nothing if not thorough.

“Then you-” The Quinjet rocked with the force of a sudden storm, thunder and lightning enveloping the jet. Ani looked back at Loki, sensing his unease. “Your brother?”

The back door of the Quinjet opened out of nowhere, and there Thor stood, resplendent, imposing, and backlit by lightning. He reached down and ripped Loki out of his straps, flying out into the night with Loki. 

Ani reached out for a parachute, clipping it onto her body. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” Steve stopped her. 

“Obviously after Loki! Unless you want to lose a very valuable prisoner.” She reasoned. 

“Let it go, Cap. It’s not like we can really stop her from reaching him.” He gesture to Ani. “Hop on. It’s safer than a parachute.”

Ani didn’t ask, but wrapped her arms around Tony’s neck, and the two of them launched off after Loki and Thor.

“Do you see him?” Tony asked her. The air stung her eyes, the clouds dampening her clothes. 

“He’s kind of hard to miss, but I can still sense him.” She yelled over the wind before closing her eyes and focusing on Loki. “Hang a left and touch down by the tree line.” Tony lowered them near some trees, letting Ani hop off. Distantly, they could hear Loki and Thor arguing. "Well they're not going anywhere anytime soon." Ani sighed.

" What makes you say that? " Tony asked.

"Loki might talk a big game, but he won’t back down from an opportunity to argue with Thor, even if he is adopted." Ani remembered the look on Loki's face when he'd last visited Thor in New Mexico. Two crows cawed forlornly, flying high above the tree line before landing on the cliff where Loki and Thor talked. "I didn't think that was real too." She pointed up at the ravens. "They're Odin's eyes, they travel between worlds and the watch over Thor and Loki.

Tony was about to speak when Cap's shield flew down, striking Thor in the back of the head. Cap landed in a clearing ahead of Tony and Ani, Thor jumping down to land in the clearing in front of Steve. 

"Is this how aid is treated on Midgard? " Thor asked, full of rage. 

"You might say you're with us, but we can't trust just anyone, especially when you drag one of our prisoners out of our custody." Steve explained.

"Loki and I are of Asgard, and he has to face Asgardian justice."

"Not in his cards. See, he's hiding something pretty important. So you either let him come with us, or..." Tony fired up a rocket , the metal missile flinging menacingly from his arm.   
"Or we're gonna have a problem."

" A poor threat, metal man.' Thor growled, thunder rumbling around them. Thor raised his arm to swing the hammer, and Steve threw the shield again, Thor striking it away. The contact created a small blast that j knocked them all back, and the battle broke out. 

Ani dived behind a rocky outcropping, taking cover as the thunder God fought, lightning crackling around the clearing. Ani looked up and caught Loki's eye as he watched the fight. He was grinning, delighting in the fight. 'he wants a right-hand wants them distracted so they won't band together to stop him.'

Once again, Ani found herself in the curious position to go against Loki's wishes for his own good. She looked to the fight. "You guys! We-" Thor's scream cut her off, and Mjolnir knocked Tony out of his way as the hammer lodged itself into the rock near her. Without hesitation, Ani reached out, grabbed a hold of Mjolnir, and lifted it out of the rock.

Ani felt the density of the hammer, and yet she lifted it as easily as a feather. True electricity hummed in her like a circuit, small licks of lightning traveling up her arms, making her inky black hair ripple with the static. As the storm built within her, she knew just how to release it. 

She lifted the hammer high above her head, lightning and thunder booming all around her. Ani swung the hammer down, cracking the rocks she'd been hiding behind, the electricity leaving a burnt trace in the rock, lighting a nearby sapling on fire.

Loki stared at her, aghast. He'd never known anyone but Thor to yield Mjolnir. Now Thor, tony, and Steve stared at this young woman, stunned as if they themselves had been   
struck. 

Ani set mjolnir down gently, the heavy hammer sinking into the dirt. "Now that I have your attention, can we get on with the task at hand? We have a glowing rock to find."


	8. I’m Not The Bad Guy, I’m the Rad Guy (Stars and Stripes Forever)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ani learns one easy way to get people to trust her!

Ani looked down at the viewer as Loki was encased in the circular glass cage, overhearing Fury’s conversation with him. “You won’t want to try anything while you’re in there.” Fury warned, tapping a few buttons on a nearby control panel.

The floor below Loki’s cage opened up, wind howling below him. Loki looked down with a smirk on his face. “And you think to be enough to deter my escape?”

“That, or your little girlfriend drops down that hole instead of you.” Fury threatened casually. Ani swallowed nervously, a bead of sweat forming on her brow.

Loki’s face darkened and he stepped forward. “If you so much as touch a single hair on my queen’s head…”

Fury turned a dial on the panel. He could no longer hear Loki, but Loki could hear him. “Sorry Loki. No conjugal visits here on the Helicarrier.”

\---

“Well, at the very least, you’ll be a good bargaining chip.” Fury admitted to Ani, grimacing.

“I don’t like the idea. But...gods, Loki is obsessed. I had sex with him once!” She shook her head, and turned to see that the Avengers had assembled behind her. Her cheeks flared red, and she sat. 

“As you all might know, this is Anicalandra Demitricolus.” Fury began. Ani nodded to everyone. “And she’s out best chance at finding the Tesseract.”

“I don’t know about that.” Steve began. “No offense ma’am, but you seem a bit too close to Loki for us to trust you.”

“I don’t believe this!” Ani stuttered.

“You did wield the staff quite readily at Stuttgart.” Natasha murmured.

“And you took Mjolnir without a care.” Thor accused. “It seems you seek the same power Loki does. A hold over Earth, as his queen.” Steve nodded in agreement.

“I’m sorry, did I kill 80 people in two days? No, that guy is sitting in a steel trap 20 feet below me!” She glowed, her powers responding to the anger in her. 

“I’m alive because of this woman.” Fury reminded them. “And she’s been one step ahead of Loki this whole time. She told us he was going to Germany, and she got in before us, stopped Loki from causing more civilian casualties.”

Steve fell silent at that, still looking at Ani with a glare. “Then what of his wish to make you his queen?” Thor asked.

She sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose. Ani looked back up at Thor, shaking her head. “Loki was nothing more than a warm body to me on the night I met him. Maybe my magic, latent though it is, responded to the magic in him.” She shrugged. “He wants someone to share the Earth with, to distract him from the gravity of what he’s doing, perhaps. Maybe he’s using me as a crutch, and excuse…”

Tony thankfully stepped in to interrupt her train of thought. “About this magic-I’d like to ask you more about that.”

Ani nodded. “Of course. But first…” She turned to Fury. “How fare are you on evacuating New York?”

“Well, we can’t just move a couple thousand people without a reason. I’ve got these WSC assholes breathing down my neck. I’m buried under a mountain of idiotic bureaucracy.” Fury scoffed. 

She thought this over. “Let me talk to Loki. I could try to tease out something about the attack. Then I could see where we need to get people out of, and I can help direct that effort.”

Natasha stood. “I’ll add it to what I ask him.”

Before Ani could answer, Tony stood and walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. The reactor in the middle of his chest sparked slightly, glowing with a tiny rush of energy going into it. Tony barely reacted on the outside, but internally, his heart almost stammered a couple times. 

He said nothing, but instead led Ani to the lab with him and Banner.

\---

Ani stared at the staff, squinting. “I don’t like having it so close. I can smell the poeple who tortured me and Loki on it.”

“You know, for someone who’s been tortured, you seem remarkably calm.” Tony replied, helping Banner calibrate the gamma search field for the Tesseract. 

She shrugged, turning to them. “It felt like a dream at the time. Not real.”

“In Germany, when Loki fired that staff at you, the blast hit you, didn’t it?” Banner asked, taking off his glasses. Ani nodded. “Then why did it rebound back at him?” Bruce continued.

“It’s pretty clear, I thought.” Tony muttered before listening for Ani’s response. 

“I absorbed it, but I couldn’t hold that energy in me, and it needed a way out. So I blasted it back from whence it came.” 

“You absorbed it?” Tony asked. “How? That blast knocked Fury off his feet. That staff blows things to bits.”

“How much do you know about your own magic?” Bruce asked. “I mean, it sounds…”

“Crazy, I know. All I know is that my mother said that I inherited it. She claims it’s genetic.”

“So what does it let you do, exactly? We know that it can help you rebound the energy of the staff.” Tony continued. 

“Yeah. My magic also...brings me places. As in, I can teleport and such, but it’s hard for me to kind of...control it.” She could tell that the two men were waiting for her to say something relevant to the tesseract. “There’s something else you should know.”

\---

Natasha watched Loki carefully. “It seems like you’re quite the charmer.”

He said, nothing, looking up in the direction of the lab in which the Beast and the Metal Man worked. He sensed Ani, could feel her energy moving above him. And he craved it.

Natasha saw the look in his eyes. “So you want her as your queen? Why? You don’t seem like the type to rely on other people.”

Loki turned to Natasha, smirking. “And you would know all about being a lone wolf, wouldn’t you, Black Widow?”

She shrugged. “It comes with the territory.”

Loki laughed. “Does it now? So Barton, he means nothing to you?” He saw Natasha stiffen at that, and grinned. Now this was getting interesting.

\---

“If what you’re saying is true, ANi then…” Bruce replied.

“Then I can bring back the agents Loki took from SHIELD, yeah.” She shook her head. “So then I’m more than just an absorber for the staff’s power, I’m...a neutralizer.”

“You’re a conduit.” Tony agreed. “And that’s just with this astral...not quite here form of you. If we could get you with us for real…”

“This is all pretty dangerous theory, isn’t it? How can we be sure that you can really neutralize the staff’s power?”

Ani walked to a nearby screen, pulling up a security feed of Loki’s cage and his interrogation with Natasha. “By getting me in that cage.”

Ani looked down, her form fading away again, faster than it ever had before. Her feet became clear,and she could feel herself disappearing. She propped herself up on the nearest table, the one with the staff on it. As she fell, she reached out, her outstretched hand grasping at the air. Then she felt the warm-cold metal of the staff in her hand, and the world was darkness again.

\----

When Ani awoke, there was shouting all around her. The staff was no longer in her hand, placed on a table just above her. Thor knelt beside her. “Are you well?” He asked lowly, half shielding her from the fighting. 

She nodded, sitting up. “What are they all fighting about?”

He sighed. “Petty troubles, Natasha wants to move Banner off the ship, the tesseract’s use as a weapon.” 

Ani stood up, now intrigued. All around her, chaos reigned. Tony and Steve were shouting each other down, and essentially having a pissing contest just for the hell of it. Natasha and Banner hissed in hushed tones at each other while Fury tried to talk them down with his tone. Ani looked down at a nearby screen, and saw Loki, sitting there in his cage and grinning, as if it was all just what he wanted.

She tried speaking up as Thor joined back into the verbal fray, arguing with Fury. Ani felt the anger bubble in her, and then it ebbed away, replaced with reason and thought. She needed a distraction. 

Ani gripped the staff, covertly sneaking it behind her back. She cleared her throat. “Captain.” She called, the red white and blue avenger turning to her. She took two long steps, and pierced his chest with the staff. 

Cap’s already blue eyes glowed brighter still, unnaturally cerulean as the staff’s influence flowed through him. His stance relaxed somewhat as he saw Ani for what, and who she really was. She stepped back, staring up at the man as he regarded her with the most intense look she’d ever received. Then he did the unexpected. 

Captain America, the first Avenger, knelt before Ani, his head bowed down as a show of loyalty, respect. It was as silent as death, and though he only whispered it, all of them could hear Captain America addressing Ani. “My queen…”


	9. A Common Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ani's a bit of a wildcard when it comes to dealing with the Marvel Universe, but then again, who isn't in the MCU?

Ani stepped back, setting the staff back into its’ place as Steve stood from his kneeling position. Her actions had the effect she desired; to stop the avengers and Fury from fighting. But now the yelling was focused on her. 

Fury berated her, screaming about how she was endangering their lives. Natasha covertly took a knife out. But it all fell silent as darkness washed over Ani, and the Other’s greasy, insidious voiced hissing in her ear. “You dare wield power you are unworthy of?” Pinpricks of pain bloomed along her scalp, and Ani gasped as she bent over, dry heaving. 

Steve moved forward, ready to help her. Her hand grasped his, and Steve felt her influence leave his mind. Ani reeled back as a new screech of pain seared through her mind. 

The Other tried to teleport her to his desolate planet, just as he did when he held counsel with Loki. Ani reeled back, slamming into Thor’s oakwood of a body. Her hand flailed back, her ring finger brushing against the soft leather on Mjolnir’s handle. 

As consciousness left her, she heard her own scream mingle with that of the Other.

\---

Loki hummed as he watched the chaos above him, of SHIELD agents scrambling to check up on the soldier. Of Fury screaming into his earpiece, his lackeys chattering away and interrogating Thor. All this chaos over one woman. 

Gods, I love you.

\---

As the groggy mortal awoke, Thor could see why Loki had been attracted to her. Here was a woman men would die for. A woman men would kill for. 

A woman who could start a war, or end it.

“I’m afraid that you caused more trouble than you meant to.” Thor murmured.

Ani watched him walk in, and sat up a bit more. “What are they saying about me?”

“Well, Fury is still looking over Rogers. He seems to be well, but he isn’t saying much.”

“And Loki?”

“He’s...restless.” Thor admitted.

“Of course he is. He’s close to what he wants, what he thinks will cure him.”

“What is it that ails him?” Thor asked. 

She sighed. “Some perverse fantasy of love that he has. You can’t know what it’s like to be tortured the way Loki and I were, but that kind of intense shared experience…” Ani shook her head. 

Thor crossed his arms and sat across from her. “You don’t seem to love him as much as he wants you to.”

“That’s because I don’t love him. At least, I don’t think I love him in the sense you mean,” She sat up, crossing her legs. “He’s important to me. And, I assume he’s important to you too, or else you wouldn’t have traveled here to find him.” 

“What do you know of Loki’s past?” He asked. 

“Not much, to be honest. I’m willing to bet it’s something to do with his dad, and yours. And a throne of some kind.” Thor stiffened slightly at that, looking away from Ani’s searching stare. 

“We should rejoin the others. It would not be wise to dwell on the past while there is a clear and present danger.”

\---

“You’re telling the truth.” Steve started, pointing at Ani when she entered the bridge with Thor. “We’ve all just been too blind to see it.”

“Cap, you were the only one here saying we couldn't trust her.” Tony chuckled. “Who knew that the touch of a very special woman would make you change your mind.”

Ani flushed at Tony’s words, but shook herself off. “What did you see, Mr. Rogers-”

“Steve.” He urged.   
“...Steve,” She agreed. “When the staff touched you, what did it show you?”

“It showed me your truth. Your whole truth. About Loki, your family, your curse.” Ani’s eyebrows furrowed as Cap continued rambling. Rogers took a shaky breath and closed his eyes. “It was a lot, and I think it may have been more than you were willing to share.”

Ani nodded to Steve, turning to Black Widow. “Natasha, right?” The russian turned to Ani. “What were you able to get out of Loki?”

“Just a plan to distract us. He was going to trigger Banner into going full Hulk for...some reason.” She chewed the inside of her cheek. “He didn’t share much else, beside some rather lewd things he wanted to do with you in that cage.”

Ani’s lips twitched as her mind wandered back to that first night in New Mexico. “Anything about his plans for New York?”  
“We only have guesses so far. But your man has taken a vow of silence.” Nick glared at the live feed from within the prison cell. Ani stepped around Fury to look at the screen with him. Loki was sitting on a bench, seemingly taking a cat nap, unconcerned with the chaos he was unleashing around him. 

“I can get him to talk.” Fury looked down at Ani. He liked the vehemently determined look on her face. 

\---

Ani.

Loki snapped his eyes open, slowly turning his head to where Ani was crossing the walkway that led to his temporary prison.

Her stride slowed as she made eye contact with him, her gaze unflinching and unblinking. She stopped a few feet from the glass, challenging Loki to speak first. 

“What have you been up to?” He asked, the ghost of a smirk crossing his face. 

“I’ve been learning.” She replied. “I hope you have been too.” She crossed her arms. “So, New YorK? Not New Mexico?”

“What?” 

“Well I figured if you wanted to start a kingdom on Earth, you’d want to start in the place where you first bedded your queen, right?”

\---

“Do we still need to be listening to this, sir?” Maria Hill asked Fury, turning from the monitor.

“Just try to focus on the relevant details, Agent.” Fury gruffed, clearing his throat. 

\---

“Or is that not how your particular brand of rule works?” Ani asked, a light smile edging into her voice. 

Loki swallowed thickly, unable to ignore the subtle warmth he felt in his cheeks. “New Mexico does not contain the power I require for the my rule.”

“Ah, if it’s about power, then it would have to be power plant of some kind, no? Or are we talking some kind of metaphysical power that only exists in your head?” 

Loki banged his hand against the glass. “My power is real! The tesseract’s power is real!”

Ani walked to the glass, placing her hand on the glass. She sensed that part of his frustration lay in the fact that he was so close to touching her and yet-

The particles that made up her hand grew fuzzy, unstable, merging with the glass wall of Loki’s cell. His eyes widened with a dangerously uncharted emotion. He stumbled back, watching Ani phase through the glass as easily as if walking through a waterfall. 

She exhaled sharply, her form reconstituting itself as she stood on the other side of the glass, inside of Loki’s cell. She stared at him with a glimmer of defiance in her eyes. 

“My power is real, too.”

\---

“I can’t get into her fucking room.” Micheal said, the light static in his earpiece irritating him. Testing his patience. “That bitch put a fuckin’ lock on her door.”  
“Have you forgotten how to pick locks?” His handler’s voice mocked. 

Micheal wanted to strangle something. 

“You’ve been gathering intel on her for weeks. If you can’t find a way to bring her in, we’ll head down and extricate her ourselves.”

“Just give me a few more days and-”

“We’ve given you weeks of ‘a few more days’! We like seeing results, Micheal.” The voice on the other end paused. “See if you can get her out of there by the end of the day. Our team will be there in a few hours for her. Keep her with you.”

“I hear you-” He began. Then the door to Ani's bedroom slowly creaked open. 

\---

Loki swallowed thickly, watching Ani stand before him, defiant and achingly human. “I…”

She crossed her arms, challenging him. “I’m going to go ahead and assume that no one’s told you what I can do.”

“They have not.”

“Well-”  
“They didn’t have to.” He murmured. 

Ani nodded. “Magic seeks out magic, I suppose. What else can you sense?”

“I know that you can only mitigate a small portion of the problem, of the storms inside my mind. No matter what you do, I have to carry out this plan of mine, establish my reign on Migard.”

Ani scoffed. “Your reign.”

“I’m sorry, our reign.”

“That is not what I’m upset about! You have to see the insanity in what you’re trying to accomplish here. You really think that you can just snap your fingers, stab a few hearts and humanity will fall to you?”

“That’s not-”

“Am I not right? Is this not some kind of weird fulfillment fantasy for you, or…”

“It’s not that!” Loki snapped back. “If I don’t follow through on this invasion, Thanos will kill us both!”

And there it was. Ani stepped back, her hands falling to her sides. “And I’m assuming that you don’t want me dead. That’s it?”

Loki crossed his arms, challenging her again. 

She was getting tired of this.

Ani stepped forward and placed a hand on his forehead. 

And she immediately blacked out, the voice of the Other whispering in her ear.

“Your feeble magic is too weak to save him from himself.”

\---

Ani opened her eyes, sighing to herself. This astral projection shit was getting old, and fast. She rolled over and pulled out the envelope of money labeled “Panic Fund”. She went over her plan again. Give Micheal the rest of the lease, hop in her car, park it in the middle of nowhere, and try getting in contact with SHIELD. Somehow. They likely already knew where she was, but New York was as good a place to head for as any.


	10. Where Did You Go? What Did You Do, And Why?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ani gets out of there, and we learn that SHIELD is basically the FBI. At least for our purposes.

The door to Ani’s bedroom in New Orleans slowly swung open, her body still wreathed in a touch of magic afterglow. 

“Who’re you talking to, Micheal?” Ani asked, trying to keep her tone light. She’d heard him whispering to himself again, though this time it was decidedly more hostile than his last solipsistic mutterings.

“Oh, just a, uh, a couple of, uh, friends.” His words stumbled over themselves as he tried to work out the logistics of how he would make Ani stay put until his team arrived. 

She dropped a packet of money on the coffee table in front of him, the weight of the bills inside making the glass vibrate hollowly. She stepped into the bathroom, sweeping her hair up into a punishingly tight ponytail. “Well that’s good. You’re gonna have to call them up to lease my rooms out again, because I have to head out of town.” 

When Ani walked back into the living room, Micheal noticed that she had a duffel bag slung over her shoulder, and a pair of tennis shoes on. “I know it’s abrupt, but I did pay off the rest of my lease there.” She nodded to the envelope on the table in front of Micheal. “See ya, Mike.”

“You can’t lease! I mean, leave!” Micheal exclaimed, shooting to his feet. 

Ani paused and turned to Micheal while opening the door. To her shock, Micheal had whipped out a telescoping baton. “Oh fu-” Ani didn’t have time to complete her expletive when Micheal swung the baton at her. She swung the duffel bag and it hit him rather uselessly in the chest. Micheal gasped slightly, and came back with an upswing. Ani reached out and caught the offending arm. She often cursed her short stature when it came to performing concerts in venues where the stage was too low for her to see over the crowd. But in hand to hand combat, it proved quite useful. Ani brought her knee up, swinging it out towards Micheal’s form. 

Her knee connected with his stomach, but her foot connected with the side of his knee-a direct hit!

Micheal howled in pain, dropping to his knees, the baton falling from his hands. Ani swooped down and picked it up, grabbing her duffel bag in the other hand and the envelope and sprinting into the night.

She had a feeling that there was more to worry about than her lease.

\---

Ani pulled into a gas station in Prairieville. She was wary of tossing her phone away. Her paranoia wasn’t so finely honed that she thought Micheal might be following her with it, but she also reasoned that it was more likely that SHIELD would be able to track her thanks to her phone. In the end, she kept hold of it. She walked into the convenience store, perusing the shelves and looking for a security camera. She made direct eye contact with it and pulled out her phone. She held it up to her ear, miming a call.

“Yeah, no, I just got into Prairieville. I can meet y’all at the house later tonight…” She continued, furtively glancing around. She turned her head slowly, this way and that so that the security camera’s feed could capture her face from every angle. “Well obviously I’m gonna bring some food, I’m just short on money right now.”

She pressed the phone up against her ear, holding it in place with her shoulder. An electronic beeping signaled the arrival of two more shoppers, and Ani glanced their way. They seemed like a typical couple, laughing with each other under their breath as they perused the beer section. 

Ani picked up a bag of spicy chips and a twenty three ounce iced tea. If she knew her intelligence agencies, then she knew that SHIELD could likely pull her face from security cameras like the ones inside the gas station. “We can split it.” She sighed in mock exasperation, alright. I’ll call you back in a bit.”

She hung up and brought her things to the counter. “Late night, ma’am?” The cashier drawled in a thick Louisianan accent. 

“Yep, but I’ve got a short drive ahead of me.” Ani replied politely. She figured it would be better to respond to hospitality with hospitality. 

“That’s good, hun.” She finished ringing Ani up. “2.60, hun. You take care out there tonight. Lot of crazies coming out of New Orleans.” 

‘I thought I was one of the crazies coming out of New Orleans.’ Ani thought to herself. “Thanks for the advice. Take care!” Ani slide a five dollar bill onto the counter and looked around while the cashier counted out her change. The couple was standing behind her in line, pricking Ani’s anxiety up a few notches. 

Ani took the change and mumbled a goodbye to the cashier, speed walking out of the gas station. When Ani peeled out of the gas station, she didn’t notice the couple getting into their own car, tailing Ani covertly.

\---

Dammit all to Helheim, Loki was growing a conscience. He walked to the spot where Ani had vanished. He knelt down and touched the ground there gently. 

Did he owe it to himself, to try and stop the invasion he was supposed to start? Or did he owe it to Ani?

Thor entered the walkway in front of Loki’s cell, mentally preparing himself for what he expected to be a trying confrontation. Loki didn’t get up from his knees to face him.

“Is there any news of her?” Loki asked, unable to hide the naked desperation in his voice. 

“The son of Coul tells me that they’ve spotted her leaving New Orleans,” Thor began. “But she has not reappeared here?”

“If she had, my purportedly silver tongue would be occupied,” Loki smirked weakly over his shoulder at his brother. 

Thor chuckled nervously as his brother stood to face him. “Do you love her, Loki?”

Loki held his hands together, picking absently at this right hand. “I’ve grown to care about her in these last few weeks. She has magic, with an origin far older than my own.”

“So you love her for her magic alone?”

“Possibly. Do you love your mortal purely for her mortality?”

“I admire her work. She is fascinated by the stars. By space. In that sense, she is trying to find Asgard. To understand how our worlds can connect.”

Loki almost wished he hadn’t asked. “And is she safe?”

“I’ve been told she is,” Thor began. “If you trusted SHIELD, they could help you find Ani and bring her to safety.” A short, bark of a laugh escaped from Loki’s mouth. “SHIELD can’t save her from the beings who tortured us. Only I can do that.” 

Thor glanced up, in the general direction of Asgard, as if his family or his friends were there to counsel him. “Then at least let us try to mitigate the damage your reign will incur.”

Loki stepped right up to the glass of his cage. He studied his brother’s face. It had been so long since someone had looked at him with such a strong mix of hope and potential disappointment. He sighed, and quietly muttered a single word. “Fuck.”

\---

Some distant part of Clint Bartons’ mind knew that what he was doing was wrong. That he was betraying everything he had represented and protected. But his conscience was significantly muffled by the phenomenon before him. 

He was supposed to have a clear shot of the Helicarrier. Loki’s plan was very simple. Take the Helicarrier down. Cause chaos. Pick up the staff and Loki, and leave. And now there was this shit to deal with. 

Thick, roiling storm clouds covered the Helicarrier, protecting it like a shield from any attacks that might come it’s way. “Any way we can move out of this cloud co-” Clint turned to the pilot. They were gone, replaced by Natasha. Clint stared up at her, her face set with righteous fury. 

Clint acted fast. He reached back to string an arrow, and Natasha took advantage of the split second to rush at Clint, elbowing him in the side of the head. His teeth clacked against themselves, but he regained his bearing to strike back at Natasha. She deflected his punch, trying to neutralize him while causing the least amount of damage to him. 

She took a hold of his shoulders and slammed him up against a wall, his head banging back against the metal harshly. He blinked, the blue in his eyes ebbing like the low tide. “Nat?”

Natasha paused, staring at him in confusion. Then she struck his head again, effectively knocking him unconscious. 


	11. The Sound of a Defiantly Beating Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I definitely know what I'm doing.

She’d just pulled into the diner when her phone went off. She pulled out her phone and held it up to her ear. “About fucking time, y’all.”

Coulson didn’t flinch. He’d heard more venomous swears amongst his fellow cadets. “You’ve been moving, not exactly easy to track.”

Ani stepped out of her car and into the diner. “Well forgive me for being a little paranoid right now. I can’t exactly relax, what with the end of the world hovering so close and what not.”

She slid into a booth, pulling out a menu and slapping it down in front of her. “That’s fair. And we’re close. You haven’t left Louisiana.”

“I’m working on it. I’ve been driving for a few hours without sleep,” Ani snapped back. She pressed her phone to her shoulder as the waitress approached. “I’ll have some coffee to start, thank you,” She smiled tightly at the young woman as the waitress walked away with raised eyebrows. “Do you have any idea how long it takes to drive to Bossier City?”

“Luckily for you, you might not have to drive that much longer,” Coulson replied. “We have some...contacts in Shreveport to guard you. They would have been there sooner, but you were driving while the sun was up.”

Ani paused, and realized something monumental about her world. “Wait...you have ties with the vampire community?”

Coulson was only slightly taken aback. “You know about the vampire organizations?”

“Of course,” Vampires had come out of the casket ages ago, back when her mother had been a teenager. By the time Ani was born, they were largely normalized in most every area of US life and relations. Apparently, they were involved in the security sector as well. “My mom was born in the 80s, she’s known about them her whole life. Not that I’ve ever met one.”

“I see. We’ve got a contact in Shreveport. That should be about ten minutes out from you. Once you two are in contact, we’ll arrange for you to be brought out to the helicarrier.”

Coulson clicked off the phone and Ani set it down on the table beside her. She proceeded to drink her coffee quietly, in sips. 

Her phone pinged quietly, and she looked down at the screen at the picture that Coulson had sent her. It was a somewhat grainy picture of an absurdly statuesque and photogenic man with blonde hair and soul piercing blue eyes. She could only gues that this was the vampire contact that Coulson had mentioned. Despite her circumstances, Ani found her mind wandering as it often did. 

She’d been wrapped up in her own thoughts when the couple from the gas station in Prairieville sauntered into the diner. Ani struggled to keep her face from registering alarm as she ordered her usual breakfast platter, sipping her coffee and looking everywhere but at the couple. 

“Need a top off?” The waitress asked. 

Ani nodded, holding her cup up for the waitress to refill it. The ceramic mug shattered in her hand, and the waitress and Ani both heard the couple swear to themselves. 

Ani dove beneath her table, the waitress running to hide behind the counter. Ani’s mind raced, trying to remember her exit points.

She peeked up over the edge of the table, and she ducked back down when the salt and pepper shakers next to her burst from gunfire. 

“Don’t make this hard for us, Demitricolus.” The young woman from the couple called in a Brooklyn-like accent. 

‘They know my last name?’ Ani thought.

“Yeah, just come on out, we won’t hurt you, you won’t hurt us. We’re just trying to help you-” The man called out in a thick Savannah accent. 

All three of them turned to the sound of a shotgun being cocked from behind the counter. THe waitress had a nasty gash across her forehead, and a mean look on her face. “Unless y’all wanna pay for the cups and the saltshakers y’all shot up, you best be leaving.”

The young man aimed his handgun at the waitress. Without a moment’s hesitation, she turned and fired the shotgun square at the young man’s chest. The force of it blasted him back, neutralizing at least one of the threats. Ani took advantage of the confusion to dart out of the diner, saying a silent thanks to the waitress. 

Ani scrambled out to her car, her shoes losing purchase on the slippery gravel again. It had begun raining while she was in the diner, and the combination of squishing mud and loose gravel slowed her escape considerably. She slid up to her car, moving to get it opened when the spotlight shone down on top of her. 

Ani looked up in terror as a helicopter swooped down. She dove into her car just as a small dart planted itself into her tire. Ani peeked out the window and watched the dart slowly seep out the air from her tire. 

Ani took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment to try and make sense of what she should do now. When she opened her eyes again, there was an impossibly tall, rain soaked blonde vampire standing in front of her car. 

The spotlight swung over to him, the blinding white light making his hair gleam like gold. 

He looked up, and in a blur of movement, he was airborne. Distantly, Ani could hear the screams of the helicopter’s occupants as the vampire attacked. She got out of her car, watching the vampire fight as the helicopter rocked. 

Ani knew that she wouldn’t be of much help in a situation like this, but she couldn’t help watching. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched one of the gunmen emerging from the diner, lifting their gun towards her. At the same time, the blonde vampire leapt out of the helicopter, but not fast enough. The bullet left the gun in a perfect line, finding it’s target in Ani’s chest just as the vampire took the young woman down.

The shock kept her conscious for a few moments more as Ani looked down at her chest. With numb hands, she turned and opened her car door, sitting in the driver’s seat. She weakly turned the keys, but only managed to turn on the radio. 

The tinny, yet surprisingly clear sound of a light, blandly fun pop song came on before fading away to a song about lights calling someone home. Ani blinked, focusing on the song as she fought unconsciousness. She mouthed the words to herself as the blonde vampire blurred back up to her car. 

The last thing she saw was the hunger and fear in his eyes as he scooped her into his arms.

\---

Loki slept fitfully, a steady ache growing in the center of his chest. A loud bang woke him with a start, and he felt for his chest, for a wound he was sure was there. He looked down and saw nothing, going back to sleep. As he slept, he was taken by the curious sensation of flight.

\---

“Where the hell did you find this one, Eric?” Pam asked, almost bored. 

“Does it matter?” He bit back, laying Ani out on the couch in his main living room. 

“Not necessarily,” She crossed her arms. “I always told you that throwing your lot in with those SHIELD people would land us into this kind of trouble.”

“She’s not the trouble, she’s just in trouble.” Eric promise, carefully cutting Ani’s shirt off to closely examine her gunshot wound. 

Pam sniffed. “I can smell the gunpowder on her, Eric. She’s trouble.” Eric stared at the wound in the woman’s chest, and noticed for the first time, that her blood wasn’t altogether red. “Good god, Eric. This woman has golden blood!” 

“What are you?” Eric asked. 

“Whatever she is, she’s going, and I don’t think Phill will be very happy with you if she dies in your care,” Pam reasoned. “Creatures like this are far too important to organizations like theirs.”

“And ours.” Eric murmured, bending his head towards Ani’s neck to begin the messy process of turning a vampire. 

Pam breezed out of the room, sweeping her long blonde hair into a ponytail. “Let me know when you need the shovel.”

\---

Eric carefully placed Ani into the shallow grave, hopping back out to help Pam dig. “Do you think that your blood took?”

“It should,” Eric replied. “If not, then this woman was something far beyond my help.”

They continued digging in silence. “What did she taste like?” Pam asked after a few minutes. 

Eric opened his mouth to answer, and then they both felt the dirt shift under their feet. “Do you hear that?” Eric asked. 

“Is that...her heartbeat?” Pam stared at Eric in shock. 

Millions of fireflies blinked into existence, floating down into the grave at a faster and stronger stream, their glow building to a blinding light. 

Anicalandra began floating up out of the grave, her body cleaned of dirt and healed over. The fireflies covered her like a dress, and she looked up into the sky, the fireflies absorbing into her skin and making her glow from within. 

Eric and Pam stood back, the heady smell of magic burning the ozone like lightning around them as the fireflies begin spinning around Ani. They engulfed her like she was the center of her own galaxy, and she held her arms out, palms facing up into the sky. The fireflies seemed to spin faster and faster, their light growing again. Ani snapped, and it sounded like the universe cracking in half. 

When Eric and Pam’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, Ani was gone, a single firefly, blinking calmly the only proof of her presence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But wait! This doesn't line up with the previous story we had about Ani being turned! Be patient, I'll bring it back around...


	12. Oh, Like the Daft Punk Song, Right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly like that song!

Loki smelled Ani’s magic long before he saw her. Like his and Thor’s arrival on Earth, the precursor of Ani’s teleportation there was the smell of burning ozone and the appearance of a small flurry of fireflies.

Loki wasn’t alone. Since his confession to Thor, SHIELD had decided to cautiously move forward with information that Loki was able to give them. He had more visitors now, and while Loki didn’t care for the company, he had to admit that he was beginning to go just a bit stir crazy.

And now this! A small swarm of fireflies were gathering in the middle of the cell, their light growing all the stronger.

Loki stood, turning from the rest of the Avengers and their discussion. “What the hell is he doing?” Fury groaned.

Thor held a hand up. “Hold your anger, Fury. This isn’t...Loki’s doing.” By now, a veritable swarm of fireflies had gathered in the center of Loki’s cell, swirling like water going down a drain, spinning like a galaxy. The fireflies melted into a glorious light, shooting upward as Ani’s form came into being. 

The light hardly faded, taking form as Ani gracefully landed on the floor of Loki’s cell. Loki was in awe, for two distinct reasons. He loved the form that Ani’s magic was taking, the small dots of light, their numbers making her look celestial, and hinting at a stronger power. 

Secondly, Ani was completely naked. 

Though no one would call SHIELD a particularly modest operation, they were still professional about their valuable assets. A flurry of activity began to extract Ani from Loki’s cell, naked though she was. 

“I want her out of that cell, ASAP!” Fury barked. “And get her some damn clothes!”

Loki observed her for a moment, the outside world fading away. She glittered, and it reminded him of space itself, the vastness and majesty of it inviting and terrifying all at once. Perhaps he’d always been aware of the power she held, but it was shining through all the more now. 

Ani looked up at him, and something glittered in her eyes, something that held the key her magic now. Loki leaned down to stare into her eyes, only to be pushed back against the cell wall as Thor flew into it. 

“Loki!” Thor admonished with a tone Loki hadn’t heard since his reckless youth. “Have you no shame?”

Loki blinked and cursed the blush that warmed his skin as Thor’s meaning dawned on him. “I don’t, not when it comes to who I bed,” Loki chuckled, rubbing his throat where Thor had slammed against it. Thor turned to leave as a galley of SHIELD agents approached Ani, offering a blanket to her, which she refused. “Though I prefer to do my deeds on a surface much softer than this!” He called back to Thor. Ani chuckled, and that alone calmed Loki greatly. 

As she strode, nude and unafraid, Ani met the eyes of Tony and Natasha. 

“You know you look like a witch, right?” Tony asked. 

“I know,” Ani remarked, then grinned. “Isn’t it grand?”

\---

Ani had never been a fan of getting checkups. The cold, sterile doctor’s offices she’d seen in her lifetime thoroughly unnerved her. But there was little fear in being examined by the medics of SHIELD. 

Plus, it was easier to deal with when she practically had a crew there to hang out with her. Tony and Bruce were there, predictably. Scientific marvels always attracted them, and their presence was welcome. 

“Well, so far, you’re one of the healthiest human beings I’ve ever met. Clear vision, no visible injuries. You could probably run a marathon if you wanted to.” The SHIELD medic replied, checking her clipboard. 

“It makes more sense for you to teleport now than before.” Tony murmured. 

“How do you figure that?” Ani asked, laying back as the medic prepped a blood draw. 

“Well, now your atoms, the physical components of your body seem to break down and travel distances. It makes more sense to physically move your body mass than it is to project anything.”

“Stark, Banner, you’ll want to take a look at this.” The medic called out, holding up the vial of Ani’s blood. Instead of the regular burgundy colored liquid anyone would come to expect, Ani’s blood shimmered like liquified gold, like the deluxe version of mercury. “I’ve never seen anything like it, but with SHIELD, you get used to these occurrences quickly.” 

The medic turned from the room as their assistant pressed a cotton ball and a bandaid to Ani’s puncture from the blood draw. 

Ani stared after them, her gaze trailing down to her hands. “Are you sure you’re still human?” Bruce asked quietly. 

“I don’t know what I am anymore, but I don’t think human is something we can rule out yet. Not until those blood results come back,” She crossed her arms, looking up at Stark and Banner. “But enough about me. We’ve got an invasion to stop.”


	13. Rescheduling the Apocalypse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So Ani's really, really authoritative, huh?

“You are taking too long, Lost Trickster.” The Other hissed, his greasy voice repulsive and high.

“I needed the time. Patience, you’ll find, is a trait that can yield great rewards,” Loki replied smoothly. “The portal will be ready for you tomorrow.”

“And your ‘queen’? Has she been brought to heel?” The Other asked. Loki feigned grief, looking away briefly before snapping his face back into rigidity. 

“You need not worry about her.” Loki sighed.

The Other made a noncommittal sound of disbelief. “See that you do not lie to us. The stench of her magic lingers on you. Is she so near? Or does your magic mourn hers?”

Loki didn’t reply, swallowing thickly and blinking back tears. The Other chuckled. “It matters not. We will have what we need soon enough.”

Loki braced himself for the for the return to Earth. The flash of pain blinded him as he was forced back to Earth, sweat dripping off of his forehead. Then, clarity. Ani’s hands came to rest on his, her magic filling him and cleansing him totally. 

He took a deep breath, resting back. “Thank you.” He murmured. 

“Of course.” She stood up, helping Loki to his feet. “The Chituari are gonna make their move tomorrow,” Ani spoke to the rest of the Avengers. Nick Fury, Agent Coulson, and Agent Hill stood with them, ready to act at a moment’s notice if Loki...tried anything. 

Of any nature.

“The invasion is going to begin at Stark Tower. It’s the only place in New York with enough power to open the portal to let the Chituari in,” She turned to Fury. “How fast can we get Midtown evacuated?”

“We can’t just evacuate it…” Nick Fury began. 

“I can hack into the New York Emergency alarm system,” Stark began. “We can use that to set off an alarm that might make people hunker into the subways.”

“Won’t people think it’s a drill?” Ani asked. 

“Not if we text the alarm out,” Tony replied. 

“Good. That takes care of the civilians,” Ani began. “Any strategies on how to take down the Chituari?”

“If they’re attacking by air, then we can bring the helicarrier over New York, station ourselves near the portal,” Agent Hill began. 

“Good. Now, Thor, Tony, and Bruce, you all can fly, right?” The four men nodded at Ani, apparently cowed by her authoritative tone. “I want you four to bottleneck them as they’re coming out of the portal. Stay out of the way of SHIELD’s fire. They can provide some cover, but don’t rely on it.”

Ani turned to Natasha and Clint, the latter of which was staring daggers at Loki. “You feel up to fighting tomorrow, Clint?”

“I’d feel better if I could plant an arrow in your boyfriend’s eye,” He began. “But yes, I’m ready.”

“Good. Loki and I can get you two airborne to help with the fighting up top. Everyone clear on what they have to do?”

When everyone replied with affirmations, Loki couldn’t help but notice how much Ani reminded him of Odin and Frigga. Ani carried herself like a fierce general, and her magic provided her with a curious level-headedness that was often missing in Odin. Loki blinked when he realized that if she could be, she could easily rule her own kingdom.

\---

Despite (or perhaps because of) his tenuous alliance with them, SHIELD and the Avengers decided that it would be a better idea for Loki to remain in his cell until the day of the invasion itself. 

Ani didn’t blame them. Despite the affection she felt for him, she wouldn’t trust Loki too deeply either. One never knew what to expect when it came to him, and yet, having known him for so short a time, Ani was already finding him tiringly predictable. There weren’t any guards outside her room, which was fortunate for Ani. Sitting in the small, spartan cabin was making her a little stir crazy. She craved grandeur. She suspected she was developing a bit of claustrophobia. 

Ani stood, walking out of her cabin and wandering around the Helicarrier, lost in thought. So she didn’t notice it when she bumped into Agent Coulson until after he grabbed her arm to steady her. 

“Miss Demitricolus,” He began as Ani turned back to him. 

“Agent Coulson. What are you doing up?”

“Probably the same thing you’re doing,” He was about to turn before he remembered something. “I didn’t get a chance to ask you, but what happened with the contact I sent to extract you?”

“Ah, well, before he got there things went south…”

“He told me. Something about a shoot out in a diner?”

“Yeah, there was this couple that had been tailing me for a few miles waiting for me in that diner. They tried to apprehend me, and I thought the waitress in that diner had taken care of them, but one of them...managed to get out.”

Coulson nodded. “Eric said that you sustained an injury.”

“I did. And then, the next thing I knew...my magic took the wheel and guided me back here.”

“So you don’t remember anything from when you were shot?” 

Ani shook her head. “I can’t even find the gunshot wound.”

“That’s some...very rapid healing,” Coulson paused. “Not that I’m in charge of it, but do you think you’d ever consider working with me, or with SHIELD?”

Ani laughed. “Nah, I was born in the 80s, but I’m a child of the 90s.”

“Meaning?”

“I’ve got a problem with authority.”


	14. The Fixer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ani makes some questionable life choices. (What's new, tbh)

Ani walked back down to Loki’s cell. He hadn’t sensed her, pacing around the glass enclosure for a moment. 

She paused, watching him walk for a moment. “You’re too easy to sneak up on.” She called out. 

Loki started, turning to her. “You’ve changed.”

“That much is obvious.” She laughed. 

Loki cocked his head at her, holding his hands behind his head. “So, what were you seeking when you came here?”

“Just some company. There’s a city to save tomorrow, and I figured you would want to see me before then,” Ani replied. “That and…” She looked down at her hands, at the dots of light lifting from her like fireflies and floating towards Loki. “Like a magnet, my magic keeps calling to you.”

Loki looked down as the lights gathered around his hand, his own green-blue magic sparking and wrapping around Ani’s dots of light, like strings of emerald silk around a white pearl. 

“You were born into your magic, weren’t you?” Ani asked softly. 

“I was. It drove Frigga mad, when I would shape shift into Thor and make mischief around the palace,” Loki smiled briefly at the memory. 

“So you’re a shark,” Ani replied.

Loki blinked, sighing. “What happened to you, Anicalandra?”

“I’m stronger now,” She shrugged. “You’ll likely realize that tomorrow.”  
Loki blinked in surprise. “You intend to fight?” 

She shrugged. “If not me, then you? They don’t trust you.”

Loki swallowed thickly. “I don’t…”

“What? Do you think I’m not strong enough to fight alongside them?” Ani laughed, crossing her arms. She shook her head as a weak chuckle clambered out of her mouth. “You still don’t get it, do you?”

“What?” Loki asked. 

Ani looked at him. “If you have to ask, you’re never going to understand it.”

\---

“If you think that makes you like tough, you’re right. But it also makes you look stupid.”

Ani glanced up from her boot laces to see Nick Fury standing in the doorway to her cabin. She was wearing a black tanktop and some tight fitting tactical pants she’d found in the closet. “Is it the tanktop?”

“It is. Come on. Let’s get you suited up.”

Ani walked with Director Fury. “How did that council, whatever, take your plan to prevent the attack on New York?” A muscle in Fury’s jaw twitched. “Have you...talked to them yet?”

“Let’s just say that what the WSC doesn’t know won’t hurt them.”

Ani balked at that. “You can’t possible expect them not to find out about this!”

“How about we worry about saving New York first, then we can deal with the consequences?”

Ani sighed. “Perspective. Got it.”

Nick Fury led her into the rather impressive armory on the helicarrier. “Any weapons you wanna pick up?” Ani shook her head, turning from the wall of weapons. “You may think of yourself as a weapon, but I can’t risk sending you into the field without any way to defend yourself.” Fury reasoned.

Cowed, Ani walked to a wall of firearms. She turned to grab two telescoping nightsticks and a few small pistols along with a holster.

“You know how to use all that?” Nick asked.

“I do.” As Ani slid into the thin kevlar suit, Nick stroked his chin in thought. “Have you ever been in the middle of a war?”

Ani stopped, looking up at Nick. “I haven’t. But my family has. Major conflicts, global upheavals, falling empires. We have a knack for finding them.”

I just need to know if you are willing to do what’s necessary to save the Earth.” Nick intoned. 

Ani looked down at the pistols at her hip. “If I have to neutralize Loki, I will.”

\---

The New York skyline loomed like the lower jaw of some great beast, ready to bite down and swallow the helicarrier whole.

Ani strutted into the hangar, her hips swaying with a well honed swagger. The assembled avengers and SHIELD agents watched her approach. Though her stride hinted at playful days gone by, her face held steely, practical determination.

“We all set?” Ani asked. 

“So far,” Before Nick could finish replying, Agent Hill came running up to the group. 

“Sir. The WSC is calling.”

\---

“How could you possibly think that you have any authority to mount an evacuation of this scale on a civilian population?”

“Why would you call off that evacuation without asking us why we initiated it!” Nick snapped back at the WSC.

“To avoid causing unnecessary panic!”

“Unnecessary?” Ani interrupted, halting the shouting match between Nick Fury and the WSC. “You think this alarm was fucking unnecessary?”

“Ani, stand-” Nick approached her.   
“No!” She stepped forward, skin glowing in anger. “I have something I need to say and you’re all gonna shut up and listen!” Everyone was sent into stunned silence, giving Ani the floor. 

“Ever since I met Loki, I’ve been pulled into this larger universe. Int this struggle for power and control and protection. Everyone here, SHIELD, the WSC; we all want some modicum of control or power, but no one here realizes the consequences of that power. It puts a target on your back, and the kind of power we want, well. That puts a target on Earth. But out there, today? We have a chance to strike back, to show those that would squash us that we’re not just a couple of helpless human beings. We can show the universe that Earth is not going down easy.”

Ani stared at the WSC, her eyes hard and challenging. ”So are you with me?”

\---

“Well great.” Ani sighed. The shackles were heavy around her wrists. “This didn’t work out the way I wanted it to.” The WSC had heard her speech, and they reached a compromise with SHIELD. Keep Ani tucked away during the fight, and SHIELD could proceed with the invasion with the full support of the WSC. 

“Oh, I would think that you’d love being shackled like that before me.” Loki joked mirthlessly from his side of the glass cell.

“When I’m not in the mood for it, I hate it.” Ani huffed. 

The screen mounted just outside the cell wall blinked on, the livestream of the invasion blurring into focus as the avengers got to their battle stations.

“I still don’t get why they had to shackle me. They could have just plopped me into this cage with you and let that be the end of it.”

“Perhaps they thought it could stop your powers.”

Ani shushed him as the invasion began on screen. The portal ripped a hole in the sky above New York. The dark maw of space marred the clear blue sky, belching out Chituari fliers like bile. “Oh gods…” Ani breathed, watching the sheer number of Chituari issuing from the hole. 

They were relentless fighters. Though many of them were struck down by SHIELD’s cover fire near the portal, a few stragglers managed to descend upon the city. The ground forces took them down, struggling a bit to maintain a rhythm before getting into the violent but effective groove of warfare. 

“Do you think that they’ll be able to-” Loki began, his mouth dropping open in shock as a large, mechanical and nightmarish whale emerged from the portal in the sky. It’s wings slashed a skyscraper clean in tow, glass and steel raining down on the streets below. 

“No-no they weren’t ready for this.” Ani’s eyes darted around the screen. “We didn’t know…” The whale chased down a stray shield fighter plane between the buildings. It’s jaws opened up, swallowing the plane in one deafening gulp. 

Ani closed her eyes, falling to her knees. Her magic fizzed and sparked, making her body glow like a livewire. Loki watched her, his own magic responding in kind, tendrils of snapping green energy undulating from his hands. 

“I have to fix this. Fix what we’ve- what I’ve…” She turned to look at Loki. Ani held out her hand, pulling Loki’s green magic into her grasp. It danced with Ani’s unfocused and wild magic, spinning into a powerful frenzy.

In a blinding cloud of green white light, Ani vanished, leaving behind only shackles.

\---

The wind blew her hair across her face, tickling her collarbone slightly. Ani heard nothing at first as the teleportation finalized, the city of New York snapping into focus before her.

Ani looked to her left at the leviathan that was fast approaching her. She took a deep breath, and ran towards the edge of the skyscraper she was standing on. With a running leap, Ani threw herself off the building, and onto the leviathan’s back.

Her magic swung out like a long role, forming a glittering set of reins and a bit on the leviathan’s mouth. The creature shrieked in indignation, thrashing about at the fact that Ani was trying to ride it. 

She planted her feet on the monster’s back, pulling hard on the reins. “Heel, you piece of-” The beast veered up into the sky, trying to throw Ani off. She yanked on the reins again, directing the whale up into the portal from which it came. 

Ani closed her eyes for moment as space surrounded her; but a moment of doubt, of fear, was all that was needed. The leviathan flicked its’ tail, taking out a small squadron of Chituari fliers, sending Ani into the black of space. Her momentum threw her out into the wide expanse of space. She flew for a few seconds before a large, muscular hand reached out to rip her from the starry sky and slam her onto hard rock.

Stars exploded in her head as it smacked into the stone beneath her. She recognized the stone, the cool and slightly slippery grain of it, like a sandy obsidian.

Ani looked up as Thanos loomed over her in all his lavender grotesqueness. “You should have stayed in your cage, little bird.” He cracked her hard across the face, and the stars went dark.


	15. Faces Only Ani Could Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guess who found out about Dan Avidan's new partner! Also: You ever get punched so hard that you see your own romantic future?

Faces. Faces that made her feel safe swam before Ani’s eyes as her mind spun out, her magic lazily trailing out into possibilities.

Loki’s smirking face as it broke into a self deprecating laugh. 

The strangely stoic, yet playful face of the blonde vampire she’d briefly met.

And, then, a dizzying array of people she didn’t know. 

A confident man with silky brown chin length hair, his head tipped back in easy laughter, one had scratching his short beard.

A woman standing by his side, her long black hair swinging over her shoulders. 

A curly haired man singing into a microphone, stage lights shining off the blue spandex that he wore. 

A short haired man whose black hair shifted in a wild rainbow of various hair colors, his arms flexing to show off his not unimpressive biceps before he broke into a laugh.

Two blonde women with warm eyes, yet wildly different expressions stood by her sides. They took her hands, and their skin was arm and soft, their grips sure. Their flaxen hair distantly reminded her of Micheal, but she could tell that they meant her no harm, only that they could make her stronger if she let them into her heart. 

She sank back into to dream, letting it carry her mind and wrap it in warmth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've made an executive decision regarding real life significant others.


	16. Stranger Than You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've got...heartburn....

Thanos tossed Ani’s body up against the wall surrounding the clearing of rocks, the young woman’s head cracking back against the rock as she awoke. “Wake up, little bird.”

Ani blinked rapidly, sleep clearing from her mind as the faces blurred from her vision. “Hey there, you great purple bastard.” Ani muttered, standing to her feet. 

“I should teach you not to be so insolent,” Thanos growled, his grotesquely beefy hands folding behind his back. 

Ani realized that she was likely going to die anyway. The least she could do was insult her torturer on the way out. “Oh insolence? Because I make your little staff totally useless?” Thanos reeled back to punch her, and Ani leaned out fo the way in time, his fist crunching into the rock behind her. “Because right now, you don’t stand a chance of winning Earth. Your army is powerless.”

Thanos’ beefy hand gripped her throat, easily bruising her neck. “Face it,” Ani wheezed. “You’re not stronger than me.”

Thanos squinted at her, and chuckled, dropping her in a heap to the ground. “You think yourself strong, little bird?” THanos cracked his large purple knuckles as Ani watched warily, standing to her feet with sure movements. She glanced back at the portal to Earth, a plan forming in her head.  “I don’t think I am, I know I am.” Ani replied. 

Thanos’ fist connected with her torso, and ANi felt a rib crack from the blow. She doubled over in pain, crying out briefly before biting back the rest of the exclamation. Thanos moved to kick her, and she staggered out of the way. 

“Oh, but I thought you were strong, little bird!” Thanos mocked, picking her up by the scruff of her shirt to punch her again. His fist sped towards her face, and Ani held her hand out weakly. A blast of unfocused white light launched her and Thanos away from each other. 

Thanos’ head cracked back against the rocky ground and her growled in anger. “What kind of…” He advanced towards Ani again. She stood up, and watched as the bright white light formed a shield before her, stopping Thanos in his tracks. Ani took the chance to get her bearings. Thanos stepped back, deciding not to waste his energy attacking this magic shield. 

Ani stood tall, the pain of her ribs radiating through her. “You call that a punch?” She mocked. 

Thanos lunged after her again, Ani deftly moving out of the way. She swung a fist out to strike at his chest, and it had all the effect of punching a wall. Ani bit back a whimper of pain, and she backed away again. 

‘Dammit!’ Ani thought to herself as she backed up against a stone wall. ‘I can’t break him!’ She found herself wishing for something more. A weapon-anything. Her hand gripped into the stone wall as it began crumbling. Thanos began advancing upon her again. Ani tried to move away from the wall, finding that her hand was trapped in the wall of rock and she couldn’t pull it away. Pebbles rained down from the wall as Thanos approached closer and closer. She tried to yank her hand out aagain and again, until the stone finally gave way. She pulled her hand out of the stone, and a long, onyx black sword was trapped in her grip. The swing of her hand slashed upwards at Thanos’, cutting his chest shallowly, and cutting a long slash across his chine, nose, and eyes. 

Thanos bellowed in pain, staggering back and grasping at the blood sputtering out of him. 

Ani stared down at the bloody sword in her hand in horror, and then a slow grin spread across her face. She looked over at Thanos. “What’s wrong, Big Ugly?” She chuckled. 

Thanos’ face steeled up, and he ran back to Ani. She stabbed forward, her sword glancing off of his arm, but still managing to make a fair cut into his arm. 

He hugged in anger, gripping her shoulders. She swung the sword at his chest, the stonelike metal cutting into him easily. He grimaced, slamming her back up against the stone wall. 

In his anger, he’d forgotten about the sword in her hands. The knife sank into his chest, and his eyes widened. He stumbled back, staring at the sword sticking out of his chest. He reached up to gingerly grab it, falling to his knees. 

Ani looked back up at the portal to Earth just as a large missile flew into it. She could distantly see Tony Stark hanging onto the missile, and her eyes widened. She took a running leap and jumped into the starry sky. Her magic pushed her towards Tony as he released the missile. She watched the lights on his suit flicker and die just as she reached him. Behind them, the missile found it’s target, destroying the entire army of Chituari left behind. 

She wrapped her arms around Tony as they fell back from the blast, dropping right into the portal. It closed around the toes of her boot, cutting off the tips of her shoes, just barely sparing her feet. 

And that was when consciousness left her.


	17. Prelude to Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I've ever gotten into Ani's backstory-like her deep family backstory..but we will soon!

Ani had sprawled out on the metal chest of Tony Stark, and they looked comically romantic to the rest of the Avengers as they gathered around them. 

“Is Tony...Is Anicalandra…” Natasha began, unable to finish the sentence. 

The Hulk roared in agony, startling Tony and Ani awake. His mask lifted away from his face as he stared up at Ani. “Sorry Ani. Pepper and I are monogamous.”

Ani groaned and rolled off of him. “Too bad. I’m not.” 

Tony blinked at that, and shook his head. “Anyway, we did it. Saved New York.”

“Give or take a few buildings.” Ani mumbled. “Fuck.”

“What?” 

“We have to figure out what to do with Loki. Asgard….it’s gonna be a hell of a family reunion.”

\---

Thor lowered the staff and the Tesseract into the glass container. He didn’t lock it closed, not yet. If he did, the stone would activate and take them off the world and back up to Asgard. 

“You can come back with us if you want.” Thor told Ani as they walked to the center of the bridge with the other Avengers and SHIELD agents. 

“I don’t know. I feel like I have too many unfinished threads here.” Ani shrugged. 

“Don’t you think Loki would need you by his side during this trial?” In truth, Thor wanted to present Ani to Odin himself. He had a feeling that Ani would answer some questions and unearth some secrets that had to come to light, and fast.

Ani hesitated, watching Loki as he was led to Thor, shackles on his hands and a muzzle around his face. In any other context, the sight would be thrilling, but her passions were far from her mind. 

“I think that I would raise more questions that answers.” She shook her head, turning to walk away as Thor raised his end on the glass cage to Loki.

Loki took hold of it. As he began to turn it, Ani’s steps faltere. Like Orpheus, she hesitated. Something in her told her that she would never see Loki again if she didn’t turn around. That Asgard, and the mystery of it all, the promise of learning more of her magic would be shut out completely. 

She turned back to them, watching as Loki turned the glass compartment. She ran back to them. The tesseract glowed, as well as the staff. In their light, Ani could see their possibilities, and every cell in her that was touched by magic screamed in a Hellish chorus to destroy these glowing blue stones. As the beam of light ignited to take them back to Asgard, Ani grabbed Mjolnir off of Thor’s hip, swinging the feather light hammer down on the staff’s stone and the tesseract. 

As they were whisked up int Asgard, her being became only light, and she screamed cosmically as the energy from the Tesseract and the staff burned through her, shattering under the weight of Mjolnir. It ripped through her, battling with her magic and losing but staying strong as they were dropped at the jagged end of the Bifrost. 

Ani stayed on her hands and knees, every vein in her body glowing like neon. She coughed, sparks of magic flying out of her throat. Thor stared in shock. This much power must have been too much for any mortal to handle.

Loki wanted to go to her, but the shackles around his feet stopped him, and he could only watch in awe and terror as she reached out towards the jagge ends of the bifrost. The energy ripped out of her, and coiled inte the Bifrost, morphing it and building it out to it’s former glory. Loki’s damage was gone, as if Thor had never tried to destroy the bifrost, as if the events that led Loki and Ani to meet on that strange rocky planet had never transpired. 

Ani collapsed, spent, a light metallic sheen of bronze sweat dripping off her. She turned back to Thor and Loki, a trail of gold blood dripping out of her nose. “I’m...I’m very tired.” She mumbled, consciousness fleeing from her. Distantly, Loki noted that the the wisps of blue energy leaving her had left the faint tracings of a Jotun’s scars on her skin before fading away again.

\---

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done in bringing her here?” An older male voice boomed in the room, pounding against Ani’s head. 

“Ugh.” She mumbled, cool hands pressing against her forehead.

“Father, she is clearly important. She has magic, the stronger magic I’ve seen, stronger even than Loki’s.” Thor replied calmly. 

“And you thought it wise to allow such a powerful being back into this realm?”

“Hey, dick.” Ani mumbled. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not in the room.” She waved vaguely at Odin. 

Odin gruffed at that, but calmed himself. “I see that you are awake. That’s good. Once you have rested and eaten, we will be coming back to question you.”

Odin turned to leave the room to Ani and the healers. 

“Oh my child, none of us know how you’re alive.” Ani turned and squinted at the woman with golden locks framing her wide face.  “Yeah? Why’s that?”

“Do you not remember what happened to you?”

“A bit.” She shrugged, and noticed the lights floating above her. “Stranger and stranger…”

A tall, regal woman stepped into the room, and Ani watched as the healers bowed to her. “Is this her?” The woman pointed at Ani. 

“Yes, my queen.” The head healer replied.

Frigga looked at Ani intently. “What is your name?”

“Anicalandra.” Something about her told Ani not to piss this lady off.

“And your family name?”

As she spoke, the name caught in her throat, and it stuttered out of her mouth, stumbling like a newborn deer. “Demitricolus.” She replied once her cough subsided. Frigga’s mouth hardened into a thin line, and she rushed forward to hug Ani tightly. “I’m so sorry, my child.” 

Ani blinked, frowning and tensing up at the hug from this unfamiliar woman. “Sorry for what?”

Frigga wiped her eyes quickly. “I’m sorry for what you have had to suffer. What your family had to suffer.”

“What?”

“Go to the library.” She whispered in Ani’s ear. “Find your family tree there.”

And before Ani could ask why her family tree would be in the Asgard royal library, Frigga had already 

\-----

“Father, who is she?” Thor asked, growing all the more frustrated as Odin turned to the balcony off the palace, staring into the gold bronze sunset of Asgard, universe chasing the sun down like a fox. 

“She is a problem...one that we thought we had solved long ago.”

“We,” Frigga scoffed, and Thor turned to look at her in shock. She had never spoken to Odin in such disdain before. “You speak as if it wasn’t entirely your fault.” “Frigga…” 

“No! Odin, you have to listen to me-You have to help me remove the curse-This has gone far enough! We have broken generations of this family, and for what? To hold some semblance of power over these realms?”

Odin said nothing. “What has changed your feelings about it?”

Frigga stiffened. “It was different before I saw her. That young woman...she is broken, inside and out. She’s like a shattered vase held together by string-the pain carries into her soul. And it has made her magic stronger.”

Odin snapped his eyes over to Frigga. 

She sniffed, triumphant. “It would seem that your attempt to destroy the Demitricolus only made them stronger. You turned plain steel into a sword that can cut Asgard down.”


	18. These Family Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we learn the secret of Ani's origins-almost.

“So if I’m a part of the trial, shouldn’t I be in a cell?” Ani asked as she sat on the bed.

“Oh there are guards outside your room,” Thor replied. They were in Loki’s bedroom, but Loki was in a cell elsewhere to await his trial. “Odin and Frigga usually don’t wait to judge their prisoners so long.”

“Is this a special case?”

“With you, yes.” Thor bit his lip, crossing his arms. 

“What’s up?”

“There’s something about you that has unsettled Odin and Frigga.”

“What do you mean?”  
Thor sat forward. “I have a theory. Something about your ancestors is connected to Asgard, or one of the other realms.”

Ani sat back. “I mean, I have magic. And Loki says it’s similar to his.”

Thor thought for a moment. “I need to do some research, in the library.”

“The library?” Ani asked, Frigga’s words echoing in her head. “Can I come with you?”

“I suppose so-as long as you stay close and keep in sight of the guards.”

\---------

Ani looked up at the stacks around her, her fingers trailing on the spines. Something reminded her of another similar library. And it was still a mystery. “So does every royal family have one of these in their castles?”

“Mostly. It’s important to keep records of past families to remember where we came from.” Thor pulled out several thick books, sitting down and handing her one. 

“What exactly are we looking for?” Ani asked, taking a book. 

“There’s something about your family history that unsettled Frigga especially. If we can find that out…”

Ani sat, flipping through a book on royal families of Alfhiem. A few pages in, she paused, staring at a family tree from the time of the Jotun Asgard wars. “Thor, look at this.”  
He leaned over and stared at the faces in the family tree. Though most of the royal family was fair haired and blond, or otherwise red headed and greeneyed, one woman stood out. She had darkly olive skin and bright red hair with streaks of black in it, bright brown eyes staring in defiance at the reader. 

“This woman...she has my eyes.” Ani pointed. 

“She looks mortal. Does it say where she’s from?”

“No, but her race is listed as J/M…”

Thor thought for a moment, and flipped to a separate book, opening up to a page. The family tree there had been ripped out, save for a small portrait at the end of it, the same as the one in the Alfhiem family tree. “So...I have family in both the Jotun and Alfhiem realms?”

Thor sighed. “Ani...there hasn’t been a royal family of Jotunhiem since the war. And since Loki killed the last king of Jotunhiem.”

Ani stared at him. “What?”

Thor turned the page again. “Before Laufey seized the throne, he was the right hand man to the last royal family on Jotuhiem. Ahlric Lorickson was according to the books, a fair and just ruler.”  
“And because he was making the Jotuns stronger by making them more diplomatic, Odin felt threatened, and he helped Laufey seize the throne, which led to the downfall of the Jotuns?” Ani asked dejectedly. 

“How did you know?”  
“I’m from America. Overthrowing democratically elected leaders to replace them with warmongers is kind of our MO.” Ani scoffed. “Either way, how, do we test if I’m a Jotun?”

Thor closed the book. “Come with me.”

\---

The weapons room was dark, lanterns casting an eerie glow over everything. “So this is where you guys keep your secrets.” Ani replied. “

“Not all of them. Seems we keep some of our secrets on Midgard.” THor replied. 

Ani fidgeted lightly. “Seems like it.”  
They stopped at the end of the hall, a glowing blue box sitting on a display stand. “Touch it.”

“Why?”

“Do it.” Thor urged. 

Ani sighed, taking hold of the handles on the sides of the box. There was nothing at first, and then the skin on her hands began tingling. Ani looked down as her olive skin shifted to a rich navy blue, bumps and ridges raising up out of her skin. “What...what is this?”

“Of course…” The began. Ani turned to him, and he saw her eyes, bright ruby red against her dark blue skin. “Your ancestors-from Alfhiem and Jotunhiem-it left it’s mark in you, and now you have that magic.”

She stared up at him as the door to the armory opened. Frigga strode in, her sleeping robes flowing behind her. “Anicalandra, of the Demitrocolus heirs. I think it’s time the truth finally came out.”


	19. Throwing Down the Gauntlet (How to Derail a Trial)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the dramatic irony is cut down because Ani tells us wtf she knows.

The walk to the throne room was a short one, but it seemed to drag out as Ani considered everything that Frigga told her, everything that they had planned for this trial. Ani couldn’t tell if it was out of sympathy, pity, regret, or some strange guilt that Frigga had harbored all of these years. 

The throne room was largely empty, a few stray guards dotted up along the walk to throne itself. The warriors three stood stoically by an exhausted Thor. Ani noted the deep bags under his eyes, and wondered if the recent revelations about her parentage had been keeping him up.

She looked back over her shoulder as the door to the throne room opened again, a cadre of guards leading Loki in as well. He stood a few feet away from her, his eyes tired and strained, and yet, righteously angry. 

“I see no jury.” Ani stated softly as she looked up at Odin’s singular gaze. “Is this not to be a fair trial? Or do you serve as judge jury and executioner?” She’d watched enough Game of Thrones to get the linguistic ticks of royal situations down.

“Ani.” Loki hissed.

“That is still to be determined.” Odin replied, deep voice booming out over the hall. “You are here because it would seem that your actions have motivated Loki’s actions since he disappeared from Asgard. This is purely investigative.”

“Until you judge me to be guilty?” Ani asked. 

Odin frowned, but said nothing else. “Memory can be subjective. Frigga. The memory spell, if you please.”

“Don’t you dare you bastard, her memories are not to be-”  Loki began. 

“You do not hold any sway over these proceedings, Loki!” Odin barked, Frigga approaching Ani. 

Ani saw a slight shake to Frigga’s hands, and she smiled briefly at the queen. “It’s alright.” She murmured, closing her eyes as Frigga’s magic moved into and around her skull. Ani gasped, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as the magic filtered through her mind, pure and undiluted. 

She fell backwards as her memories unspooled, twitching and shaking on the ground like she was being electrocuted. As a fine golden mist came out Ani’s ear, her body stilled, her chest rising and falling shallowly. The gold mist condensed and morphed, forming scenes from Ani’s life before the assembled Asgardians. 

The events of New York played out before them. Selective, edited, Frigga being careful to only playback memories that confirmed what Thor had report from Earth.

Odin nodded, apparently satisfied with the events as they correlated with Thor’s record of what had happened on Midgard.

Frigga turned her hands, spinning the memories further back, rewinding into Ani’s past. New York, New Orleans, New Mexico, everything that had transpired in Ani’s life that pertained to the current trial was laid bare before them all. “Thank you, Frigga, that will be enough for now.”

Frigga moved to remove the spell, flicking her fingers. The memories merely hung, suspended in the air, refusing to dissipate. Frigga frowned, flicking her fingers again, and the memory pulsed angrily, pushing Frigga back. “Enough.” A strong, otherworldly voice boomed out of Ani’s throat. She stood again, her body strong and regal, a drip of golden blood falling from her nose, perching along the bow of her lips.

Odin felt that period of his life, of his rule steadily creaking back open. 

“How soon you forget the errors of your past, Odin,” Ani spoke again, walking through the memory that hung frozen before them. “How soon you forget what you’ve did to me, to my ancestors.”

Odin gripped his staff tightly. “These realms have forgotten you. The Jotunns have forgotten you.”

“Maybe so,” the voice spoke again. “But blood, blood never forgets.” Ani wiped her nose, flicking the gold droplets into the air above them where they hovered, waiting at Ani’s command.

“I’d always known my family had magic running through its veins. For most of my life, I believed that to be a fluke-a glitch in the human genome,” Ani turned to Loki. “And then I met you.”

The droplets misted, forming into solid, real shapes, like they were looking into a miniaturized version of Ani’s memories.  “You likely don’t remember our first meeting. I didn’t either, given the fact that I was a newborn. And then, again, you appeared on the night my dad was killed, when I was three years old, and I walked through the rest of my life with the vaguest memory of your face. But my mother...my mother saw to it that you wouldn’t be able to tell a soul about me or my family.”

The memories sped ahead, leaving everyone staring at a confused looking Loki as he held a wailing baby in his arms. 

“And when I met Loki again on that fateful night in New Mexico, my magic responded to him again, reactivating fully in the presence of raw power.” Ani continued, her memories blurring forward again to Ani and Loki walking through New Mexico together. “How was I to know that it reacted like that because we both come from Jotun stock?” 

A collective gasp echoed through the rooms-the guards, the warriors three reacting in shock. Ani focused, shedding her outer robes as her skin turned a deep sapphire blue, ridges emerging from her arms, her legs, her shoulders, along her face. She opened her eyes, staring up at Odin in gross defiance. “My name is Anicalandra Demitricolus, and I’m the last living descendant of Ahlric Lorickson and Florence Demitricolus,” She turned to the room. “And that makes me the last true heir to the throne of Jotunhiem.”


	20. Cell Block History Lesson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That's a long monologue Ani, would you like some water?

“I will ask you this only once more,” Odin gruffed, his booming voice echoing through the halls of the dungeons. “Do you have any tangible proof of your claim?”

“Cut the bullshit Odin, we all know you were the one who orchestrated my family’s downfall,” Ani scoffed. “If anyone knows where that proof is, it’s likely you-the being who made sure my family’s existence was erased from the eight realms,” She crossed her arms. 

Odin couldn’t stop the redness rising in his face. “When you have decided to stop being so...uncooperative, then we can talk.”

For once, Ani bit her tongue, turning from Odin and sitting cross-legged on the floor of her cell. Like most of the cells in the dungeon, it was essentially a box lit with a blindingly bright white light, framed by a glittering gold wall to prevent her likely escape. 

Odin left as the guards brought Loki in, guiding the trickster god into his cell, mere feet away from Ani’s cell. 

He settled into his own cell, regarding Ani’s meditating form for a moment. “That was quite a scene you made back there. Looks like we both have a flair for the dramatic.”

Ani’s shoulders shuddered once, and she shook her head, standing and walking to the edge of her cell. “Maybe, but my dramatics had a point.”

“That point being?”

Ani began pacing in her cell. “My idea was that if I could establish myself as an equal player in Asgardian politics, I might be able to negotiate your sentencing.”

Loki arched an eyebrow at her. “And why would you want to do that?”

She stopped, staring at Loki as if he was the biggest fool in the nine realms. “Do you really want to spend the rest of your life in that cell?”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ani spent most of her time exercising-she found that being on Asgard had filled her with boundless energy. For the first few hours of her stay in the cell, she was largely alone, save for the occasional remark from Loki.

“I think that you might have come at your bid for the throne a bit too early.” The voice

Ani paused mid push-up, turning to the new voice. A serious looking woman with black hair stood nearby, dressed like she was ready for battle. “I keep hearing that,” Ani admitted. She hopped her feet up between her hands and stood, turning to fully face the woman. “And you are?”

“Lady Sif. Part of the Warriors Three.” Sif introduced herself, nodding to Ani. 

“I’m guessing you're not here to tell me I’m totally wrong,” Ani replied, still assessing the warrior woman. “You seem like an intelligent warrior who knows where to place her talents.”

“I’ve lived on Asgard for centuries. I’m no neophyte to the ways of Asgardian court politics.” 

“So I take it that you don’t doubt the possibility that Odin would have worked to erase a royal family from Asgard’s memory?”

“It is not far from the realm of believability.” 

“Ah yes, the elusive tenth realm.” 

Sif tilted her head at Ani. “You speak as if you’ve lived in these realms before.”

Ani shrugged. “I guess it’s in my blood,” It wasn’t, but Ani thought that sounded plausible. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So what did Odin do to your family?”

Ani looked up from her book over to Loki’s cell. “You don’t know?”

“I doubt I would have been older than a few days when your family was removed from power,” He sat up, leaning towards her. 

“Are you sure you want to know? It starts in Jotunhiem. I gather you’re not a fan of that side of yourself.”

A muscle in Loki’s jaw twitched, and he picked at his hands. “It’s easier if I hear about it from your perspective.”

Ani bit her lip, and stood up, walking to the edge of her cell. “Im descended from a variety of nomadic...groups that traveled around Midgard. Florence Demitricolus met a Jotun man in his ‘human’ form when he visited Midgard for the first time. This was of course, back when traveling to Midgard from the other eight realms as encouraged. Ahlric Lorickson was the king of Jotunhiem at the time. Back then, it wasn’t uncommon for Jotun rulers in particular to take multiple lovers across the realms, but something about Florence, in particular, intrigued Ahlric…”

“If she was anything like you…” Loki began. 

Ani laughed. “Personality-wise, yes. But unlike me, Florence had fiery, orange-red hair. So from there, a romance ensued and resulted in Florence taking the throne as Queen of Jotunhiem, the first recorded mortal queen of that realm. With them in power, Jotunhiem was...a truly better place to live, from what I could tell. You know, the better quality of life, stronger crops, longer predicted lifespans. And of course, that means that Odin was feeling...threatened.”

Loki’s jaw tightened, and he looked away. “It took a while because it was a heavily guarded secret, but Odin eventually caught wind of the fact that Florence was expecting a child. A mortal ruler was one thing, but a line of royal mortals that could strengthen Jotunheim’s power by marrying into the realms? That wouldn’t do, not for Odin. Luckily, he had an in. Laufey was the...right hand man to Ahlric, and largely trusted. But as you know, Loki, living in someone’s shadow tends to make hatred fester in your heart.”

“I don’t hate Thor,” Loki protested. 

“I never said you did.” Ani mused. Loki shifted uncomfortably. 

“Regardless-what was Florence doing while these machinations moved in her periphery?"

“Like any mortal, Florence grew homesick from time to time, but it got worse when she heard the news that her mother had died on Midgard. So, eight months pregnant, Florence went back to Midgard to attend the funeral, while Odin and Laufey conspired against her family. What they came up with was, honestly truly evil.”  
“Once Florence was on Midgard, it became clear that traveling between the realms while pregnant and grieving was a terrible, terrible idea. No one is truly clear as to whether is was poison, exhaustion, or a spell, but Ahlric returned to JOtunheim with a severely weakened Florence in tow. And that was when Laufey and Odin pounced.”  
“Wouldn’t they just need to wait for her to die?”

“You know what’s worse than a living queen? A martyred one. There were already those in Jotunheim that had never fully warmed to Florence’s presence in the realm. Traditionalists, who thought that Jotunheim should stay with Jotuns only. So I guess human nature doesn’t belong to humans alone,” Ani looked away, biting her lip a moment before focusing again. “It didn’t take much. A few dead crops here, a few crumbling buildings there. Some small spells and whispers to sow discontent among the people, and Jotunheim would grow weak enough to fall. And then Florence had her child.”

“She was on death’s door once she gave birth, and the sounds of battle and struggle outside of the palace likely didn’t help. They took a risk then, a risk that would ensure their family’s survival. Ahlric took his newborn daughter to Alfhiem, and she grew up there. When he returned to Jotunheim, he embraced his dying wife, the love of his life, and that was how Laufey and his cohorts found Ahlric.”

“And there was no trial, I take it?” Loki asked. 

“Yes. By fire.” 

“So that’s the story of your family. The whole tragic tale of how you inherited your magic?” 

“Not completely. You see, Odin and Frigga reached a compromise. It wasn’t enough for Odin that he had effectively dethroned Florence and Ahlric, but he wanted to fully extinguish the bloodline altogether. Maybe Frigga felt guilty about what she’d done, but either way, she worked out the terms of our my family curse with Odin.”

Loki’s heart sank a little, but he knew exactly what she was talking about. He didn’t know the specifics of it, but he had sensed the curse in Ani when he focused his magic on it. 

“In my family, if you want to unlock your powers you have to experience great emotional or physical pain. It might take a couple of times, but if it happens enough, your magic will awaken, at a price. If you come into your powers at the age of seventeen, you will die at the age of twenty. If you come into your powers at the age of twenty-five, you die at the age of thirty, and so on. So even though we get magic, we get a limited amount of time to use our powers. And if we want to have children, we cannot do so without burning ourselves first.”

The silence hung heavy between them, and Ani sat, her hands laying in her lap. She was spent from having to tell Loki all of this, and it showed in her face. 

“Ani…” Loki began. 

“What?” She asked, her voice absolutely fatigued. 

“How can someone live with so much pain in their past?” 

She blinked at him, slightly bemused. “You don’t know much about the history of mortal suffering, do you?”

Loki blinked, looking away. 

“Most humans carry some tragedy in their family. It becomes like a friend.” She looked off, humming softly. “ _ Your pain is a tribute, the only thing you let hold you, wear it now like a mantle, always there to remind you _ .”

Loki thought for a moment. “That’s a lovely song.”

“Thanks,” She turned to the rest of her cell, thinking to herself. “Do we know anything about what our sentences will be?”

“Mine was already decided,” Loki grimaced. “An eternity in this dungeon, for my crimes. I know not what they plan for you.”

Ani bit her lip, sitting on the floor of her cell. “I’m fine with waiting. I haven’t had a chance to sit down and relax since this all started.” 

Loki thought of this, and sat down in his cell, watching Ani for a while.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thor walked up to Heimdall, staring down at the reconstructed Bifrost with something akin to awe and respect. “She is a remarkable being,” Heimdall called, his golden eyes staring out over the cosmos.

“Yes. And a bold one at that, declaring her claim for the throne of Jotunhiem on her first day in Asgard.”

Heimdall chuckled. “I’ve watched her family suffer for years. But she has the makings of a great ruler. Sympathetic, ruthless, protects those she loves but doesn’t let that emotion cloud her judgment.”  
“I noticed. Even as Loki was imprisoned, she went against his wishes to harm Midgard. She focused on the well-being of the realm she hailed from.”

“She will either save the nine realms or destroy them.” Heimdall replied, grimacing as he looked out amongst the stars. “The convergence approaches…”

Thor frowned. “Why has it begun so early?”

“It seams that Anicalandra has set things in motion more quickly than they were meant to happen.”

“How is the convergence affecting Jane’s work?”

Heimdall focused, his eyes glittering slightly. “She investigates its effects now, in a human city…” He paused, his eyes widening. “I can no longer see her…”

\---

Ani snapped to attention, turning as she sensed the presence of someone standing in front of her cell. “What do you need, Thor?”

“How did-”

“I can feel the distress on you,” She replied, turning to face the red-caped prince. “What do you need?”

Loki looked up curiously. “Jane Foster has vanished from the nine realms. Heimdall can no longer see her. I thought-”

“That because Loki and I have been outside of the nine realms I might be able to help you find her?”

Thor nodded. “I can help you with your bid for the throne of Jotunhiem.”

“Oh, I was going to help you anyway, but thanks for sweetening the pot.” Ani chuckled, walking to the edge of her cell when a confused blackbird flew by her, chirping in alarm. “The fuck-” Ani turned in the direction that the bird had come from, and saw that the white wall of her cell was...warped by what looked like heat lines.

Thor and Loki gasped. “The convergence.” Thor murmured. 

Something about the portal was deeply alluring to Ani. She looked down at her hands and arms, her magic alighting and sparking with that recognizable blue form that came from the Tesseract. “It’s another one of you, isn’t it?” 

The glow grew stronger, flooding Ani’s systems. Her eyes glowed completely sapphire blue, and she stepped forward, disappearing through the portal. 

Loki and Thor stood, frozen as the blackbird chirped, the only proof that Ani had even been there at all.


End file.
